The 226th Hunger Games: Escape
by Europa22
Summary: The fourth in my Hunger Games series. Even though it isn't a Quarter Quell, President Raven decides to throw in a little twist and unveil something that has been a secret for many years. These games are meant to be one of the most complex, suspenseful ones yet. Which one of our dear tributes will survive, and which will have their blood splattered across the arena's walls?
1. The Beginning of the End

**President Raven's POV:**

I silently tapped my foot against the mahogany floor as I waited for Head Gamemaker Lavender to enter my office. Last year's games were the best in Panem's history. Now, she had to make these ones even better. I glanced in the mirror at my short, black hair. I certainly wasn't beautiful. I never had been, but I was powerful. Power beat beauty any day.

"You called, Madame President?" Lavender asked as she entered.

I spun around to see her staring expectantly at me. "Even though this isn't a Quarter Quell, why don't we throw in a small twist." I smirked.

Lavender smiled back, and asked, "Anything in mind?"

"Actually yes!" I giggled. I handed her a piece of paper, and Lavender laughed when she was done reading.

"I'll go redesign the arena right now," Lavender laughed as she walked out.

Perfect. I couldn't wait for the tribute's blood to cover the arena floor. Let the games begin…

**I know, super short intro. This is a SYOT. The form is on my profile, and this is not a first come first serve SYOT. Only the best will be taken. Tributes will only be accepted Pm. Any submitted via review will NOT be accepted. If you want a taste of my writing since this isn't a very good taste, go read my other SYOTs, or one of my other stories. Submit away :D**

**Okay, this is an update super quick. You can send me as many tributes as you want, but I will only take ONE. Sorry, but I have so many people planning, or already have, submitted, and it would be unfair if I denied people the chance to have a person in this SYOT for one person who wants two. Also, no need to reserve spaces. I am not deciding on who makes it in for like a week, so you have plenty of time. Just make sure your tribute is good, because I am only picking the best of the best. Thanks, and submit away :D**


	2. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

**President Raven's POV:**

"Are the soldiers ready," I asked with an annoyed grimace across my face. General Task nodded before quickly looking away. He was one of the younger Generals, and hadn't yet learned that if you look me in the eyes I won't _immediately _kill you_._ I stepped into my hovercraft, along with the other generals, and we watched our soldiers pile into the other hovercrafts.

We took off, and I just stared out the window with a dreamy look upon my face. We needed to make these games more interesting, and damn it that's exactly what I was going to do. Time to shock the people of Panem to the core. I thought back to the second rebellion with the infamous Katniss Everdeen.

That little twerp thought she was so smart. She thought she had it all under control. She thought that since so many people were supporting her that nothing bad could happen to her. What she didn't know was how easily support can falter.

President Snow was a genius. A man that I hoped I could one day I could surpass. The rebels came to the Capital to save their precious victors. The President had captured Peeta Mellark, Johanna Mason, and Enobaria Glore. Only the best of the best came to save them, and they failed. The President captured the rebels, killed them, and stole all the plans and information the rebellion had from the corpses of the dead rebels. He then sent his army, and easily conquered District Thirteen with his overpowering forces.

Suddenly, we were above our destination, and the scouts descended from the planes. After them, the rest of the soldiers followed and they began their invasion.

They captured Miss Everdeen, and brought her to the Capital. They made her watch as they killed her mother. They made her watch as they raped and suffocated her precious sister. They pried her eyes open, and made her see the dead bodies of Gale Hawthorne and all his siblings. They saved Peeta Mellark for last, and made Katniss deliver the final blow to his death. After everyone she loved was killed in front of her, she waited for her death that would never come. We sent her back to District Twelve, cleaned up the rest of the District, and restored it as if it had never been bombed. We made her mentor tributes for the rest of her life. Tributes that we made sure _never_ won. We made sure they died as punishment for Katniss Everdeen. When she finally died, she had the death of _thousands_ of people on her brain. Of course, after her death we have let District Twelve tribute win. All because she couldn't let the Boy with the Bread die in the arena. All because she had to save her sister from the Hunger Games. No good deed goes unpunished.

"The task is done," General Toys yelled. I smirked, and stepped of the hovercraft. I walked through the battlefield, and through the tunnels. No one ever wondered what happened to District Thirteen. They thought President Snow killed them in the second Rebellion. In all reality, they are still thriving beneath the earth. We gave them people to help them reproduce, and their District is thriving. After a century, they have enough children that they can finally become part of our lovely games again. I stepped into the main hall to see the leader surrounded by my soldiers.

"Ready to enter the Hunger Games?" I whispered into his ear.

"As ready as we'll ever be. We've been suspecting this to happen for decades, Raven. We've trained our youth to fight. They can kill your precious Careers in seconds." The leader hissed.

"Just remember, at the end of the day we let the tributes become victor. If we don't want them to win, then they won't." I laughed. The leaders face blanched white, and I just continued to laugh.

"We're on in three seconds," The cameraman yelled. I quickly spun around and smiled into the camera lens.

"Hello Panem," I purred, "Right now I am at District Thirteen. Yes, they are still alive. We had to give them some time to recuperate from the rebellion, but now they are finally ready to join us in the Hunger Games! We will now have twenty-six tributes this year! The Reapings will take place in two months from now, so be prepared my precious future tributes, Be prepared for the best Hunger Games ever!"

I could practically hear the cheers from the Capital, and the cries of sorrow from the Districts.

"You're evil," the leader spat.

"I know, but at least I'm having fun," I laughed. I walked away from the leader and headed back to my hovercraft. Perhaps I would even surpass President Snow as the best President Panem has ever seen. I was already the first female President ever…

**Okay, so I've gotten an overflowing amount of tributes. So I decided to throw district thirteen into the mix for two more spots :D KEEP READING THIS IS IMPORTANT. Below, I am going to list my version of the Districts so if you submit a tribute their you can sort of format it that way so I don't have to later :D Also, just because I say the tributes from the District are a certain way in the descriptions, doesn't mean you have to make your tribute that way. I'm just saying that is the normal tribute in the District, but who wants every tribute to be normal ;D **

**Plus, this s a lot faster than saying just go read my three other SYOTS XD Then below that, I will have the number of tributes submitted for each District person. It's okay if a tribute has already been submitted for that District, but if three or four have been please choose another district or gender to submit for :D**

**District One:** The Luxury District. They make luxury goods for the Capital, and are the richest District in Panem. No one ever starves on the streets, and the poorest people are those that are in community homes. No one is without a home, and no one ever dies of lack of food. However, there is much deceit within this District. To get on top, you poison your competitors. You kill off the business that is taking away your customers. A Career District through and through, but there are always non Careers there as well.

**District Two:** The Stone Quarry District. They still secretly train Peacekeepers, but most of Panem does not know that. This is the most savage District in Panem, and the most strong. Always have the strongest Careers, but also the most mentally unstable ones as well. The class of people ranges from rich to poor, and this District is one of the Capital's favorites because of their tributes. Many people die in this District, but they kill each other on the streets in front of everyone. There are close to no secrets in this District…

**District Three:** The Electronic District. This District has some of the weakest, but smartest, tributes ever seen. There is always the occasional strong tribute, but on a whole they are weak from being underfed. Filled with factories and buildings, there are many side alleys. Not a speck of nature in sight, leaving most tributes clueless in the Hunger Games. There are only a few rich families in this District, and most are middle class or poor, which forces some kids to work at the age of sixteen.

**District Four:** The Fishing District. One of the more pleasant Districts. Most people don't starve on the streets in this District, but it still has its problems. Many of the fishermen are cruel beasts, and cause more trouble than they are worth. Although they are a Career District, the children training has dropped immensely. Most kids here grow up fairly carefree, and end up just wanting to have a good time with friends and family. However, they have a set of skills that most tributes don't have. All children know how to swim, and most know how to catch fish with either a net, spear, or fishing rod. One of the better places for a tribute to live.

**District Five: **The Science District. Very similar to District Three. Filled with buildings, and not a speck of nature in sight. However, in this District, most tributes are intelligent. They know how to avoid the strict Peacekeepers, and they definitely know how to survive on their own. In District Five, loyalty isn't common and it is every person for themselves. If you rely on someone else, you end up dead.

**District Six: **The Medicine District. One of the more versatile Districts. They have all classes of people, and all different types of jobs. Although people work in factories to make medicine, there are still plenty of people to have a plethora of jobs. They not only have a city full of buildings, but they also have suburbs surrounded by nature. Tributes from this District tend to be fairly determined, but are also very naive. One of the weaker District, but every now and then there is a contender of some sorts that either wins, or makes it to the final four.

**District Seven: **The Lumber District. A very strict, hardworking District. Most teenagers are forced to start working out in the forest at the age of fourteen. Many people live without food for days, but somehow it only makes them stronger. Usually one of the more experienced and stronger Districts, some people even consider them Careers because of how experienced they become with whatever weapon they use to chop down trees. However, most tributes from this District don't have the heart swing an axe into someone's neck, but there is always that occasional cold hearted or psychotic tribute…

**District Eight: **The Textile District. One of the most diverse Districts. Everyone is trying to earn money in one form or another, and will do anything to help provide for their family. Most tributes from this District are kind people, who have an extreme amount of loyalty to those they care about. Sometimes, they are loyal to the wrong person and end up dead.

**District Nine: **The Meat Packing District. One of the roughest District. Everyone in this District has a secret of some sort, and is in some sort of trouble. Whether it be gangs, prostitution, or secret Careers, this District has its secrets. Most tributes from this District are strong from how hard they have to fight for food and their lives, and end up being contenders in the long run.

**District Ten: **The Ranching District. Filled with rolling grass plains, this District is fairly serene. Most people live on farms, and they don't know a lot of the people in the District because of how far apart the farms are. There is a smaller city where the Mayor and other officials live, but that is only where the richest families live. Everyone owns a car or carriage for transportation, and most people aren't dirt poor. Most tributes know a plethora of things about animals, nature, and hard work. This gives them an advantage in the Games that most tributes don't have, but that doesn't mean they have the heart to slaughter a human like they slaughter cows…

**District Eleven: **The Agricultural District. Split into three different parts. One part is where the farmers live, and where they farm things that grow from the ground. The second part is where the orchards are, and where many of the women work and gather the fruit. The third part is where the basic shops are open, and where the Mayor lives. Most Peacekeepers are very harsh in this District, and most people are very poor.

**District Twelve: **The Mining District. The weakest of all the Districts. No child is allowed to work in the mines until nineteen, which means they have no advantage from living in this district. Most people starve to death, and everyone is trying to earn money in some way. Food is precious, and so are lives.

**District Thirteen: **Used to be the Nuclear District. Ever since the second rebellion, the Capital has assigned them to manufacture weapons, and transportation such as hovercrafts or trains. The people of this District knew the Capital was going to suck them back into the Hunger Games eventually, so far centuries they have trained their children. Some of the children have the same mentality as Careers, but others don't want to be in the Hunger Games at all. All they want is to survive.

**Also, here is the thing. Use my form, otherwise your tribute is deleted. If you ever submit a repeat from another SYOT, your tribute will not be accepted. If I put them in, and find out they will die. Even if I'm in the chariot rides, they will get run over. If they are in the arena, instant death. If they win, and I find out five SYOT from now, they will die. You will also never be allowed to submit again because I will not trust you. **

**Submissions:**

**District One Boy: 0**

**District One Girl: 1**

**District Two Boy: 2**

**District Two Girl: 2**

**District Three Boy: 1**

**District Three Girl: 2**

**District Four Boy: 1**

**District Four Girl: 5**

**District Five Boy: 1**

**District Five Girl: 0**

**District Six Boy: 0**

**District Six Girl: 3**

**District Seven Boy: 2**

**District Seven Girl: 1**

**District Eight Boy: 1**

**District Eight Girl: 4**

**District Nine Boy: 0**

**District Nine Girl: 0**

**District Ten Boy: 0**

**District Ten Girl: 0**

**District Eleven Boy: 0**

**District Eleven Girl: 0**

**District Twelve Boy: 1**

**District Twelve Girl: 1**

**District Thirteen Boy: 0**

**District Thirteen Girl: 0**


	3. Welcome to the Games, my Pretties

**Okay, so first of all let me just say to everyone thank you so much for all of the amazing tributes! I loved them all, and they just made my day. However, I could only pick 26 out of the 56 that were sent to me. Sorry to all of you that didn't make it in, and I hope you still read the story :D if not, I guess I understand, but it still makes me sad D:**

**Also, before I start, let me just say there are certain things I did change about tributes without your consent. Age was a big one, because frankly about fourteen of the tributes I picked were all seventeen. Yeah, so some of them got bumped down a few years, or up one. Two, weapon of choice. Sorry, too many people who use knives. Three, some appearance things. Can't have sixteen blonde headed, blue eyed tributes running around XD no im kidding on that last one, but there were a few appearance things I changed with some tributes.**

**Now, this is set after the Reapings. I, of course, will still write the Reapings. Still, this is after it is all said and watched, and it is legal and not against guidelines of just having a list :D**

**Capital:**

**Head Muttation Creator's POV:**

**Peach's POV:**

"Has she been delivered to the proper destination?" Raven asked over the telephone. Her voice sounded like ice, and I just gulped. She had just decided to throw in another twist. A twist that would change the games even more than they had already been changed. Apparently, this was a better idea than bringing tributes back from the dead.

"Yes, ma'am, Angel has been safely sent to the meeting place," I whispered.

Angel, the Capital's favorite mutt from last year. She was a serene little girl who looked just like an Angel. Unless you made her mad. Then she turned into a little demon. After the games, we preserved her mind and body for future uses. Now was the time to use her to get what Raven wanted.

"Very good, Peach! Now, you go finish that project, and I'll send you information on the tributes once they have been reaped!" Raven cackled.

I hung up the phone, and shuddered. The Hunger Games were disgusting, but what was I going to do? Join the rebels and get killed? The Head Muttation Creator was no that stupid. I slowly walked over to my desk, and I heard my heels clacking coldly against the laminated floor. I sat down at my desk, and just laid my head down. The only reason I ever signed up for this job was for money. I never thought I would get this high up. Never in my wildest dreams would I be creating mutts that slaughtered tribute after tribute. Never in my craziest thoughts did I think I would become so attached to my mutts. Never in my flimsiest fantasy did I think I would consider them as if they were my children, and be so sorrowful when the Capital killed them at the end of every Hunger Games. My thoughts soon began to wander, and a shroud of black mist surrounded my eyes…

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to the source of it. I saw an Avox holding a piece of paper. I took it from his grasp, and groaned when I read the title. The list of tributes.

_**District One:**_

_Stark Delmont [17]_** (neb88)** is a quiet Career. We were asked to rig the Reapings so he would be sent to the Hunger Games by the Mayor of District One. Not much is known about him, except for the fact that he knows how to hide in the shadows, but also leap out and kill when the opportunity arises. However, will someone spot him in the shadows before he has a chance to make the kill?

_Camilla "Cami" Starkweather [16]_** (****Hollow-Kuchiki) **is a known leader of one of the main gangs in District One. A cold hearted sadist, she loves to cause mischief, and convince others to do the dirty work for her. Will she be as charismatic in the Hunger Games, or will her cunning mind and training not be enough for her to become the next victor?

_**District Two:**_

_Apollo Caius [17] _**(VividlyVisceral) **is the chivalrous, laid back Career. He knows how to treat women, and that is to treat them with respect. However, some women don't entirely appreciate his sexist views, and have the urge to wipe that small smirk off his face. Never one to lead or start fights, he is very kind compared to other Careers. Will his chivalry towards women help him make friends, or perhaps it will make him one of the most hated tributes of the games.

_Jordana Kite [18] _**(TheEpicBookWorm) **is what you would call a freedom fighter. She has an extremely rebellious attitude, and knows how to hold her ground. One of the very few African American women in District Two, she has had to fight for her respect, and disregard all racist comments. Will her feiry spirit get her to victory, or the top of other's hit lists?

_**District Three:**_

_Thomas Birch [16] _**(****Arysthae) **is already being compared to Hali from last year's Hunger Games. He can be easily manipulated, and has a very naïve quality about him. He is very clever and witty, but tends to keep to himself. Will he be able to make it past the bloodbath and win, or will his blood be the first to cover the floors of the arena?

_Valhalla Smitz [16] _**(ToxicatedRose) **has been raised her entire life by her bickering parents. They were divorced at an early age, and each took a child. Her father, a Hunger Games fanatic, took his son, and taught him brawns beat brains every time. Her brother went on to win several years ago, and now Valhalla is assigned by her mother to not only teach everyone that brains can beat brawns, but that she is the better child. Valhalla may seem quiet and shy, like most children of District Three, but she is actually quite cunning, manipulative, and vicious. Will she be able to live up to her mother's expectations, or will she fall to the brawns of another tribute?

_**District Four:**_

_Leith Tallen [18] _**(CandyKiller) **is the typical Career. Cold, brutal, and strong. However, his coldness tends to make others feel inferior, and even hated. He doesn't have many friends, and in fact, has an abundance of enemies. He is determined to win the Hunger Games, a determination that matches that of even President Raven. He will not fall, and he will not die. However, will determination and strength be enough to bring him victory, or will he die just like so many other Careers have done before him?

_Oceana Windsor [17] _**(hollowedheart) **is the girl who is always smiling. However, behind her fake smile is a broken soul. Fragments of her past tend to bubble up around her, and bring her down under with deep depressions. She is worried of never being able to right her wrongs, and being forgotten. She just has to get home, and try to repair what she broke only a short while ago. Can she make it through the Hunger Games with her soul intact, or will she be broken so much that she won't even be able to go on?

_**District Five:**_

_Admyer Elverson [16] _**(3rdbase101) **is a determined young man. He always must be busy, and when he isn't doing something he feels empty and useless. He likes to keep his mind busy, so he doesn't have time to think of other, deeper things. A sneaky boy, who knows how to lie like none other, tends to be extremely loyal once you have his trust, but until then you had better watch your back. Will his lies get him through the games, or will he be caught in a web of lies and find no way out?

_Winnifred Fontane [15] _**(GirlonFire8) **is a sweet, yet extremely awkward tribute. She is often caught in her day dreams, and is many times in her own little world. Most people automatically write her off as stupid, or air headed, when in fact she is very smart. She just has to be out of her own little world long enough to use her brains. Her brains may be her key to survival, but will some tribute catch her off guard one day and end all thoughts from ever crossing her brain again?

_**District Six:**_

_Adam Reid [17] _**(JustaHolyFool13) **is what you would call a womanizer. He is extremely self righteous and aggressive, and always goes after what he wants. He is extremely rude, arrogant, and thinks only of himself. However, under his rough exterior, there is just a caring individual. Will his womanizing ways get him his dream girl, or a knife in the back?

_Lucy Carter [15] _**(bellecatcsi) **is the most mysterious tribute of these entire games. Others see her as caring, and quite kind, but under all that is a heart of steel. No one knows where she came from, but she suddenly showed up one day, and has been hanging around town ever since. Will her mysterious ways capture the Capital's attention, or just leave her unnoticed by all?

_**District Seven:**_

_Lucian Valcoor [17] _**(Petemidnight13) **is one of the most insane tributes these games has ever seen. He thinks the world is all one joke that only he can understand. He is very sarcastic, and has comebacks for anything. The thing that turns him into a complete and utter crazy person, is the fact that he is a full blown sadist. A dark, sinister past created this unstable maniac, and perhaps nothing can satisfy his thirst for blood. Will his sadism bring him the victory he thinks he rightly deserves, or be his downfall?

_Jacqueline "Jacquie" Holdaine [18] _**(BTRfanMegan) **would love to be just like any other girl. Except she can't. Not ever since she received her hideous scar that has marred her face for life. She is an extremely moody person, whose mood changes as quickly as the weather. A very serious young woman who would love nothing better than to find _love_. Will her quest for true love be successful, or will it interfere with her chance of being Victor?

_**District Eight:**_

_Lyric Kane [17] _**(OhSoVeryLovely) **is the grandchild of one of the richest men in District Eight. Everything has been handed to him on a golden platter, and he has never really had to think outside of his little realm. His grandfather, however, has made many enemies, which has caused people to dislike Lyric instantly. Sadly, they have no right to dislike Lyric. He is extremely naïve, but very sweet. Will he be able to make it through the bloodbath in one piece, or will he be instantly destroyed because of his many weaknesses and faults?

_Asite Chaya [17] _**(owlchicka) **is the District Eight whore. By far the most beautiful tribute of the 226th Hunger Games. She has sold her body for food and money since the tender age of fourteen. She always has as shining smile for any man who can benefit her in some way, and is extremely confident in her abilities. Not only does she get plenty of money from her job for her family, but she has learned to thoroughly enjoy sex. However, behind her beautiful, and sly mask is a girl who just wants to be loved. Will her charm and beauty be able to give her the victory she needs to show everyone that she is more than a dirty prostitute, or will she die in the eyes of Panem as nothing more than a used harlot?

_**District Nine:**_

_Hawk Nightwind [16] _**(Risuko)**is just as his last name describes him. He is as quick as the wind, and as discreet as the night sky. The son of a thief and a prostitute, nothing in Hawk's life has been normal. Taught how to steal and pickpocket since a young age, he has never had a normal life that he longs to have. Terrified of fire because of past events, he has a nasty burn across his left forearm that has permanently scarred. Will Hawk be able to win the Hunger Games and live the normal life he dreams of, or will his dreams be shattered by death itself?

_Kairi Renn [13] _**(Blame it on the alcohol) **is a curious soul. She tends to ask questions that get her into trouble, and has no respect for others feelings or social boundaries. Labeled the whack job, she has had to live through intense bullying throughout most of her school life. Even though she is nosy, hot tempered, and fairly annoying, she still has an overall happy outlook on life. Will optimism spur her on to victory, or will it do absolutely nothing to help her in the arena?

_**District Ten:**_

_Davis Grayvelle [12] _**(Kiwirawr) **is the youngest tribute of the 226th Hunger Games. He has been labeled a bloodbath, but the real question is, is he actually as weak as he seems. A very intelligent young boy who has picked a knack for acting. He love to pretend he is someone else, and sometimes get so caught up in it he forgets he is even acting like someone else. Will he be able to surpass everyone else's expectations, or should he just await death and give up on life as is expected of him?

_Charlotte Fern [16] _**(Evalynn May) **has always been the spoiled child of District Ten. Her parents own a very wealthy ranch, and she hasn't had to work for things in life. Still, he parents made her help rope the cattle in from a young age, and has had to help around the ranch. One thing about Charlotte is that she is a firm believer in the golden rule. Treat unto others as you want to be treated. If you're nice to her, she is happy to be nice back. Give her attitude, and she will deliver twice as much attitude right back at you. Although she isn't the prettiest flower in the field, or the smartest bulb in the box, she still has hope. Hope in her District, and hope in Panem. Will her hope bring her to be a revolutionary figure, or will she just become a silly, spoiled girl who dies in the bloodbath?

_**District Eleven:**_

_Scarlett Macrose [13] _**(orTherefore)**has always been a cute little boy. No matter how hard he has tried, he has always appeared cute. In all reality, he is a cold, calculating person who cares nothing for others feelings. He has always been able to play the innocent boy act, and now that he is in the Hunger Games it will be no different. He has an odd fascination with blood, but isn't a full blown sadist… yet… Will he be able to wriggle his way into some innocent tributes heart, or will no one fall for his act and just leave him to deal with the Hunger Games on his own.

_Sage Hathaway [17] _**(DimitrisGirl) **is District Eleven's songbird. She had always had a beautiful voice, and has a soft, quiet beauty about her. Sometimes, people even say she has a bird-like look to her. Often found feeding and watching birds, she has a dream of one day being just as free as they are. Will she forever be a songbird trapped in a cage, or will she be let out to fly across the sky just like she has always wanted to?

_**District Twelve:**_

_Devon Wright [18] _**(BowserBoy) **has always been a master of words. He has been known to be able to persuade people into buying his supplies, and getting them to do things for him fairly easily. He has been trading in the Hob for years, and has an intense hatred for any and all Hunters. A very spirited person, who never gives up no matter what the situation is. Can he trade something for his life in the Hunger Games, or is death the only thing he can receive out of this bargain?

_Ruth Angelo [16] _**(Urnumber1fan) **has an extreme hatred for anyone who is a Career. Tragic events from her past have shaped this deep rooted hatred, and she believes all Careers are evil. She is extremely judgmental, and believes she can choose whether someone is worthy enough to live, or evil enough to be killed. She has trained for the Hunger Games as much as you possible can in District Twelve, and is prepared to kill every Career, and anyone who gets in her way. Will her mission be a success, or will she learn the hard way that no one messes with the Careers unless they have a death wish?

_**District Thirteen:**_

_Alexei Drake [17] _**(carmencielle)** is the boy everyone expects to be perfect. His father is the second in command man in District Thirteen, and everyone just assumes he is going to take over his position when he retires. However, Alexei lives a completely double life. He has a very aggressive attitude, and tends to take his anger out during training. Will Alexei finally be able to be himself in the arena, or will his life be destroyed by the ever dark tendrils that surround his heart?

_Ayla Siege [16] _**(Fangaliscious) **doesn't trust anyone that isn't from District Thirteen. Her entire life she has been surrounded by those she loves, and now she is being taken from her home by the Capital. She has an extreme hatred for the Capital, and anything involving the Careers. Her entire life she has trained, but has never really done it. Now she is part of the Capital's games, and she refuses to play along. Will her obstinacy help her defy the Capital, or will it bring about her downfall?

I closed the pages of the pamphlet, and set it down on my desk. I slowly set my head back down, and just shut my eyes. Maybe one day I would just wake up, and it would all have been just one, big nightmare…

**I hope you are happy with the descriptions, and I am so sorry if you're tribute didn't make it in…**


	4. District One Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District One:**

**Cami Starkweather's POV:**

"Camilla! Get your butt out of bed!" I heard someone yell. I rolled my eyes, and sat up in my bed. Standing in the doorway was my "precious" sister, Brianna.

"What do you want, idiot?" I growled.

"Father wants to speak with you," Brianna hisses.

I simply roll my eyes and flip her off. Brianna lets out a gasp, and stomps out of my room. I swear, one of these days I'm going to kill that girl. I quickly got up, and brushed out the tangles of my dark brown hair. I stomped downstairs, and glared at my two siblings.

"When are you going to get your stuff and move the heck out, Kyle?" I growled.

"When I find a house, witch," Kyle said calmly back.

"Where is dad?" I grumbled.

"_Father_ is in the basement," Brianna hissed.

"I call him dad, because he actually likes me. Unlike you two losers, we are actually winners." I laugh.

"He only likes you because you both are vindictive and sadistic freaks," Brianna barks.

"And what's wrong with that?" I mockingly asked her. Her jaw dropped open, and I made my way towards the basement. My younger sister, Brianna, is the complete and utter bane of my existence. Not only is she sickeningly goody two shoes, but it's her fault any of this happened! It s her fault that I'm this way! Well, I've learned to enjoy being this way, but I certainly didn't when I was younger!

I clunk down the stairs, and glance around for dad. I'm his favorite child. Brianna was right about one thing, we are both cruel sadists. I'll admit it; I kind of find it funny when other people are in pain. I don't necessarily always like causing the pain, but no matter who is in pain it is always amusing!

Suddenly, I hear a shuffle of feet, and I spin around. Dad is leaping at me from behind the staircase with one of the training swords. I quickly roll out of the way, and leap for an axe. I like all melee weapons, but an axe was frankly the closest one. I raise it up, and block his next attack, and quickly smash my right leg against his knees, and he goes tumbling to the ground. I jump on top of him, and hold my axe to his neck.

"Dead," I smirk. My dad laughs, and I get off of him and help him up. My dad is one of the coolest people in Panem. He is frankly the only adult I respect. Besides victors, that is.

"You're going to bring District One two victories in a row this year, kid!" My dad smiled.

I let him pull me into a mock hug, and then he put me into a headlock. I let out a laugh, and wriggled out. We walked back up the stairs, and sat down for breakfast. My dad just glared at my siblings, and I smirked at them. They were weak. My dad tried to train them, but I was the only one who was good at it. Well, that's not completely true. Kyle was a pretty good fighter, but he refused to volunteer. Brianna refused to volunteer, and she can't swing a weapon to save her life.

Some people are natural losers.

We quickly scarf down breakfast, and I run up the stairs. I put on a red blouse, and slip into black slacks. I throw on my favorite leather jacket, and then slip into some black boots. I quickly apply some silver eye shadow that makes my silver eyes pop, and smile. I'm going to look ruthless and stunning on stage today.

I quickly hop out of my house, and run to our meeting place. Now, I don't exactly live in the richest part of District One. Yes, I have a three story house, but practically everyone has one of those here. I live in one of the poorest parts, and I'm kind of happy about that. It made me stronger.

"Brennan!" I yell. Brenna turns around, and waves at me. I quickly give her a hug, and then smile at the rest of my gang. And by gang, I literally mean gang. Brennan and I are the co leaders of one of District One's strongest gangs. Now, granted, there are only three gangs total, but we are still the strongest!

I nodded at all my friends, and we made our way to the Reapings. Brennan is exactly like me. Cruel, vindictive, and brilliant. The only difference is our tolerance for pain. She knows when someone we beat up has had enough, but I never seem to do. At least I haven't killed anyone yet.

We made it to the Reapings, and I walked into the sixteen year olds section with Brennan. I guess it's about time I told you why I'm volunteering. I have three reasons. Reason one is obvious, I want to be a victor. Reason two is because I want to see how well I can manipulate people. That's always been one of my talents. Reason three, is because I want to know what it's like to kill someone. I long to end someone's life, and see the life drain out of their eyes. I shiver in anticipation just thinking about it!

I look at the stage, and see our two mentors this year. The male mentor is Copper Tranio. He is pretty much all brawns and no brain. The female mentor is the one that interests me. She is last year's victor, Rouge Lockett. Let me give you a quick rundown of how she won. She was one of the most beautiful tributes during last year's games, and used it. She did her interviews in one of the most scantily clothed outfits I've ever seen! Once she was in the arena, everyone back here realized she wasn't part of the Career alliance when she grabbed a bag from the Cornucopia and made a run for it.

After that, she used her brains and saved her life a few times. Then she met back up with this guy she "loved". People have two theories one this. Either they started a relationship at the training center, or she was using him for protection. She banged him in the arena, and later they broke up. Long story short, he didn't have a choice but to break her heart. Here is where I gain my respect for her. The last two days, she ended up killing ten people. Since last year there was 48 tributes, she almost killed a quarter of the competition at the very end. Since it was the end, it was only the best of the best left as well. The sad part of the story is that she won, came home, and found out she was pregnant. She had a little girl, and named her Partridge after her lover's little sister. The thing that confuses people is she still wears skimpy clothing, and she is said to have had many lovers back in the Capital. It could all be a rumor, but you never know.

"Brianna Starkweather!" Vladmir, the District One escort, yelled.

I let out a laugh that got me several looks. Part of me didn't want to volunteer at all now. Just let her go die. Then I changed my mind, and shouted, "I volunteer!"

I stomp up to the stage, and Vladimir glares at me. "I didn't ask for volunteers!"

"How about you go stuff it where the sun doesn't shine, and hurry up and reap the male tribute," I glared. Remember, I have serious problems with authority. Everyone let out a laugh, and Vladimir turned bright red.

"Well, first tell me your name," Vladimir hissed.

"My name is Cami Starkweather, and I'll be back _alive_ in a few weeks, don't worry about it!" I said confidently.

"I wasn't" Vladimir muttered. He stuck his hand into the bow, and pulled out a name. "Stark Delmont!"

I looked for who my competitor would be, and I saw him emerge from the seventeen year old section. The first thought that came to mind was he was screwed. He was skinny, scrawny, and looked fairly underfed. He had short black hair, and bright blue eyes. I waited for someone to volunteer, but when Vladimir asked, no one said anything. I guess the Head Gamemaker, Lavender, scared everyone off after last year's games.

Wimps.

The Mayor is openly glaring at Stark and my brow furrows. Do they know each other? I shake Starks hand, and his bright blue eyes bore into my silvery grey ones. I wondered if we would get along. I guess it didn't matter whether we did or didn't. After a few weeks, I would be victor and he would be six feet under.

**Stark Delmont's POV:**

We are sent straight to the Justice Building. We are put in our separate waiting rooms, and I do just what we are supposed to do. I wait until we are shipped off to our death. My first thought of Cami was arrogant. She seemed extremely self confident, and I had heard rumors of her before. She was said to be one of the best street fighters in the District.

I slowly shake my head, and stare out the window. What did I do to deserve this? Okay, so I was going to kill him, big whoop! People die here all the time!

Maybe I should back up.

When I was twelve, I wasn't exactly hanging out with good influences. In fact, one night I met a strange group. They said they wouldn't kill me if I delivered something for them. I did it, and almost died, but I managed to make it back. They were shocked, and sent me on more "missions". At first, I just listened to people and brought the information back to them. When I was fourteen, I killed my first person. I became an assassin at the age of fourteen.

The Mayor found out, but instead of killing me, he hired me to kill rebels. Well, potential rebels. He paid handsomely, and it helped my family out quite well. My family had no idea what I did, and they never asked. Money was money, and my family was in dire need of it. I didn't exactly like killing, but it got the money that kept my little brother fed. I did what I did to survive, just like everyone else. The other Districts might think District One is the richest, and they are right. Not only are we the richest with wealth, but also in secrets. Everyone has their secret, and mine is that I kill people.

Anyways, about a week or so ago failed at killing a rebel. He pinned me to the floor, and almost strangled me to death. He then offered me more money than I had ever seen to do one thing. Kill the Mayor.

It was simple, really. I agreed, and readied myself. The thing was, it was all a set up. He wasn't a real rebel, but another spy. The Mayor wanted to test my loyalty, and I failed that test. So he simply rigged the Reapings, made sure no one volunteered, and is now sending me to my death.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the door slamming open, and my family streamed in. I immediately hugged my brother, and stared at my parents. They had always been distant, and they had never truly cared for me. They just liked that I brought them money. Both my brother and I were "mistakes". Neither of them ever wanted children, but sometimes thinks slip up. They slipped up twice, and here we are.

"Try not to die, okay?" My father barked.

"Yes, it would be a shame," my mother added.

What caring, soulful people.

"Please don't leave me," my little brother blubbered. He was eight, and so innocent. If I ever told him I killed people for a living, he would probably ask me what killing a person meant. He didn't understand the Hunger Games, and I was happy for that. I continued to hug him, and I felt several tears begin to form in my eyes. Soon, the Peacekeepers came and took him away.

"Don't leave me!" my brother screamed as the door was slammed shut. I quickly wiped my tears away, and stared out the window again. Did I think I was coming back? Probably not. If the Mayor wanted me dead, then he wanted me dead. There was still a small amount of hope, though. Stick with the Careers, and stay in the background. Kill people off one by one, and just survive a day at a time. I could do that… couldn't I? I was an assassin! How was killing people in the Hunger Games any different than killing people here? Then it hit me. Over half the people in the Hunger Games were innocent children. The other half weren't rebels, but strong competitors fighting for their lives. Could I really bring myself to kill people who were just like me?

**I hope you like it! Please review so I know that the long time between starting the update and this chapter hasn't driven you away! Review, and tell me what you think of these two tributes! I like both of them immensely :D Thanks neb88 and Hollow Kutski (yes I did butcher the spelling of both of your usernames) for these amazing tribute :D**


	5. District Two Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Two:**

**Apollo Caius' POV:**

"Come on, Apollo! We need to eat breakfast!" I hear Kai yell.

"Yeah, hold on a minute!" I replied. I had just gotten out of bed, and was about to change into my reaping outfit. I guess that would have to wait because my impatient brother would be up to drag me down to breakfast in a manner of seconds if he didn't hear me coming down the stairs. I quietly walked out into the hallway, and made my way down the stairs.

"I'm coming up!" Kai yelled expectedly. A smile spread across my face, and I waited at the top of the stairs. He charged up them, and right before I was in his line of vision I leapt at him. He let out a yell, and both of us went tumbling down the stairs. We both were shaking with laughter by the time we were a dysfunctional heap at the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't you two ever give it a rest!" Calista reprimanded.

"Hey, just because we are better Careers than you doesn't mean you have to scold us constantly on roughhousing," I countered.

"At least I have two working eyeballs," Calista joked.

I rolled my eyes, or I should say eye, and sat down at the breakfast table. I _really_ hated it when people mentioned my disability. I was usually a laid back guy, but that seriously pushed my buttons. If it wasn't for the fact I was related to Calista, he would most likely be on the ground bleeding right now.

I know, harsh, but seriously after several years you get tired of being made fun of or pitied. Now, I could go and tell you my eye was gouged out by a crazy Career. I could tell you I got stabbed during training. Both of those sound heroic, but my story is frankly lame. I tripped one day coming home from school, and some grit and dirt got kicked into my right eye. Ever since, it has been unfocused, disgusting, and not functional. I pretty much have no line of sight in the right side of my vision, which is going to be a huge disadvantage in the Hunger Games.

Yes, I did just say I was going to volunteer. You're probably thinking, this kid isn't exactly the Career type, right? Well, you're one hundred percent right. I can fight, but I know I won't enjoy killing someone.. I can survive, but I'd love to just stay in this District and find a lovely girl and get married. I don't want to be a murderer, but I will for my family. For a year or so now, we have been a little tight on money. Kai was going to volunteer, but he chickened out during his last reaping last year. So now it was up to me to volunteer, and bring home the bacon. My family needs to survive. They are practically my entire world.

My two sisters, along with my mother, come down the stairs. I can smell the food is done cooking, and dad takes it off the stove top. I quickly get up, and pull out the chairs for each of the women in the family. Yes, I am frankly extremely old fashioned _and_ I'm a gentlemen. You should always treat a girl with courtesy and respect.

Of course, nothing irritates me more than a girl who refuses to let you help her. Mainly, every girl that is a Career. They all seem so masculine, and rough around the edges. Can't they just understand what their role as women are, and stay out of men's business?

"Hey Daddy," Aurora said as he scooped some food onto her plate, "Can I go to Trinity's house after the Reapings? She is throwing a huge party!"

I rolled my eyes, and continued to chow down on my food. Aurora was a complete and utter airhead. It kind of bugged me, but at least she didn't think she was better than everyone else. Now, she did think she was more important than everyone else, but not better, which made her bearable to be around. My father nodded, and I just smiled at him. He was one of my main role models. He was strong, intelligent, and was always a gentleman.

"So, who do you think your District partner will be, Apollo? Anyone you think… you know… there could be a spark with?" My mother asked eagerly. I love my mother to death, but sometimes she doesn't see the point of the Hunger Games. I enjoy the Hunger Games because of the action and suspense. She enjoys it because of the romance and the drama. She ate up the romance between Rouge and Link last year. It took us many attempts daily to get her to stop talking about them.

"You don't have to go, Apollo," Dacia muttered. I smiled at her, and ran my hand threw her hair.

"Of course I do, Princess. Got to keep the food on the table," I smirked. Dacia, who was the tender age of twelve, just giggled. She loved it when I called her Princess.

All of us ate breakfast quickly, and we went to our rooms to get ready for the Reapings. I washed my dirty blonde hair in the sink, and quickly ran back to my bedroom. I left my hair to dry however it wanted. It was fairly short everywhere and the bangs only went down to the middle of my forehead.

I slipped into my older brother's old reaping clothes, which was simply a maroon dress shirt and black slacks. I quickly slipped into my shoes, and glanced in the mirror. My light blue eye shimmered back, and I straightened my eye patch.

Yes, I wore an eye patch. One, it kept people from looking at my disgusting dead eye that always seemed to be unfocused and grimy. Two, I think it made me look a little stronger and a little cooler.

I rushed down the stairs, and found everyone else was ready as well. I opened the door for the girls, and quickly followed out behind them. I picked up Dacia, and put her on my shoulders. We walked to the town square, laughing and giggling the entire time. We made it there a little early, and I slipped Dacia off of my shoulders. I signed us in, and quickly walked to the seventeen year old section.

My eye wandered, and soon I was focusing on my future mentors. Linnet Phlight was the one I respected the most up there. Pretty much, she was the "weak" Career of her games. She never spoke, and was pretty much hidden in the background.

It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

She showed in the games she had an amazing talent with axes, and killed many tributes. She wasn't malicious about it, but she didn't show just how strong she was to the Careers until the Career alliance broke up. She had the upper hand of surprise, and that's what gave her the edge that made her the winner. The other mentor, Castiel Kite, was the usual Career. Pig headed, mean, and always insulting everyone. He won his games by simply gutting every tribute alive.

"Hey man!" I heard someone yell. I turn around to see my best friend, Crison, running towards me. We have a plan of sorts. I'm going to win this year, and then he is going to volunteer and win next year. Crison is a lot like me, except for the fact he is more of a leader. I've always haven't cared enough to try and lead people. Following is so much easier.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Not much. Vex isn't going to volunteer this year!" Crison said with mock shock. Vex was one year older than us, and was one of our closer friends. Vex was extremely intelligent, but he never seemed to have a zest for training. I had suspected for a long time he never liked the Hunger Games, but he refused to admit to it. The fact that he wasn't going to volunteer proved that he didn't care for the Hunger Games like some of us do.

"Really, go figure," I murmured. Crison laughed, and slapped me on the back. We smiled at each other, and suddenly Mayor Cynthia was on the stage. She had about ten Peacekeepers surrounding her, and I rolled my eyes. She always thought everyone was out to get her. She probably thought right now someone in the audience had a gun, and was going to shoot her if it wasn't for the Peacekeepers surrounding her. She made her speech, which was extremely boring. She felt the need to pronounce every syllable individually and as slowly as humanly possible.

After she was done, she was rushed off of the stage as if someone had just thrown a bomb at her, and Sparkler came up to the Reaping bowls warily.

"Ladies first!" Sparkler cheered.

She dug through the reaping ball with her hand, and pulled out a slip clipped between her fake nails. "Taylor Jensen?"

A smaller girl walked up to the stage. She seemed fairly dainty, but she had a confident look in her eyes. Perhaps there could be a spark between my district partner and I…

"I volunteer!" I hear someone yell out. A girl emerges from the eighteen year old section, and I groan.

Jordana Kite. Sister of the victor of the 220th Hunger Games, Castiel Kite. This was going to be just fabulous. Jordana and Castiel were a few of the only African American people here in District Two. She also had these disgusting, unlady like cornrows that went down to her shoulders. They were both brutal, and most likely she was going to gut everyone just like her brother did. She was strong, tall, and obviously would never let a man help her out. I hated her already.

"And who are you?" Sparkler asked.

"Jordana Kite, and don't you forget it," she smirked.

"Oh, sibling of the infamous Castiel Kite! This should be a very interesting games! On to the boy's!" Sparkler squealed. She drew out the name slowly, and opened it with a grin on her face. "Tristan Patrelli!"

A boy walked up to the stage, and stood there awkwardly. Unlike Miss Rude Career, I would actually wait until she called for volunteers. Once Sparkler asked for volunteers, I raised my hand excitedly, and walked confidently to the stage.

"What's your name, dear?" Sparkler asked.

"Apollo Caius." I said as calmly and coolly as I could.

"These are District Two's splendid tributes of the 226th Hunger Games!" Sparkler shouted.

I shook hands with Jordana, but both of us did it with a grimace. Oh dear, we were most likely going to hate each other's guts. Hopefully, it would be her guts spilled on the arena's floor, and not mine…

**Jordana Kite's POV:**

We walked towards the Justice Building, and as soon as we get there Apollo rushes to the front and opens the door.

"Thank you, sir," Sparkler giggles as she walks in. I roll my eyes, and purposefully open the other door and walk in that way. I hear him let out a little huff and anger, and a small smirk spreads across my face. We are quickly escorted to our separate rooms, and I hear the door slam shut behind me. I take my seat down on the couch, and begin thinking immediately.

Apollo seems like definite competition. That eye patch thing might be a weakness, but no one volunteers for the Hunger Games unless they have some sort of skill. I roll my eyes again, and think about how stupid he is. I've never personally talked to him, but I've definitely heard about him. The "Chill Career". Mr. "Knight in Shining Armor". Most of the girls swoon at the sight of him because apparently "no one knows how to treat a woman anymore except that young lad!". Whatever. If you want to impress me, chop someone's head off and show you got some balls.

I think about last year's tributes. I guess I'm a mix between the both of them. Isis, the female tribute, was wicked smart. I mean, she ended up going insane and killing herself, but that is a minor detail. I actually didn't like her personally, but I thought she had a great chance at winning. Saturn was definitely last year's crazy. He was a complete sadist, and an amazing fighter. Now there is me. I'm sort of smart, but definitely not the smartest. I'm a pretty good fighter, but I certainly don't love it enough to be a sadist! The tribute I thought was going to win personally was Alex from District One. He was smart, strong, and ruthless. Perfect victor material.

I stare at the floor, and wait for my parents to arrive. Ugh, my parents. You want to know the reason I volunteered. Castiel is the reason. Even though we have the riches from him winning, my parents are constantly comparing me to him. If I beat every single tribute in the training center with an axe, they tell me Cass could have done it faster. No matter what I do, Cass always does it better in their eyes. Well, that's going to change the minute I win the Hunger Games. No more comparisons. Cass and I will be equal, and I will finally be out of his shadow.

The door opens, and I turn towards it to see my parents enter. I look for Cass, and then realize mentors aren't allowed to see the tributes until they got on the train.

"I didn't think you'd go through with it, squirt," my father jokes. I laugh along, and give him a quick hug. My father and mother, though annoying, have taught me throughout my entire life to stand up for myself. The first time I came home crying because someone had called me a "no good demon" simply because I was black, my father sat me down and told me what to do to those people. Punch them as hard as you can, and be proud of your race.

"I knew she would. She got my impulsiveness. Only a daughter of mine would actually be able to go through volunteering! I'm so proud of you, darling!" My mother rejoiced. I gave her a hug as well, and we simply talked strategy. Our strategy was simple. Get into the Careers, stay by their side, and don't get a target placed on my back. Unlike my brother, I didn't want to kill every tribute in the arena. I didn't have an aversion to killing, but I knew I would feel guilty after the games.

Soon they left, and next my friends poured in one by one. First it was my best friend Thea. She was extremely bitchy and obnoxious, and I loved every second of it! Next was my other best friend Jason. We talked just like old times, but it seemed different, As if he wanted to tell me something. My other friends popped in and said encouraging words, and then I was all alone.

I wrapped my hands around my district token, and thought about the significance of it. My brother and I were friends, but we didn't get along about ninety percent of the time. When he found out that I was going to volunteer, he ran upstairs and came back down with his lucky charm. It was simply a necklace with a black onyx rock at the bottom, but it was also the token he took to his games. It was one thing I was going to cherish with my life.

Soon, the Peacekeepers came in, and I stood up confidently. I let them lead me out of the waiting room, and outside. The cameras were blinding, and I caught sight of Apollo a few feet away. He was still wearing his eye patch, and I realized that must be his token. Then it hit me that he must actually be a little self conscious about his eye. A normal Career would see that weakness and pounce on it. I, on the other hand, just simply pitied him for a matter of seconds, and moved on. We were going to be at each other's throat the entire time we were in the Career alliance. We were complete opposites. He was white, blonde, laid back, and kind. I was black, brunette, impulsive, and brutal. Hopefully, we could see past each other's differences long enough to watch each other's backs. I doubted it would happen, but I might as well hope, since that's all you really have left once you enter the Hunger Games. Hope and, hopefully, luck because without luck you were screwed no matter how talented you were…

**Thank you so much ****VividlyVisceral and the epic bookworm for these two fabulous tributes! Please tell me if I got there character right, since they were both complex to do since they are like most careers, but also extremely different haha So review, and tell me what you think of them :D**


	6. District Three Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Three:**

**Valhalla Smitz's POV:**

I woke up as soon as the sun rose into the sky, and slipped out of bed. I walked slowly over to my mirror, and looked at my reflection. My black hair went down to my shoulders in an array of curls. My skin was almost starch white from the amount of time I spend indoors, and my face was certainly nothing pretty to look at. I had extremely sharp features, and I remember hearing one girl compare me to that of an elf. My shimmering blue eyes stood out against my alabaster skin and black hair. I may not be the prettiest girl ever, but I certainly was the smartest girl alive.

No, that is not an over exaggeration. I know for a fact that I am brilliant. Probably bore line genius. So what if I am a narcissist. It doesn't matter if I'm right.

I walk down the stairs, and see my mother cooking breakfast. I smile at her, and give her a quick hug from behind. My mother is probably the only person I genuinely care about. In fact, I could even say I loved her, if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't love anyone. Emotions are stupid, and there is no point of feeling anything.

I sit down, and recall the past Hunger Games. The 220th, 221st, and the 223rd Hunger Games were all won with brawns. The 222nd Hunger Games were won with bravery. The 224th Hunger Games were won by a tribute blindsiding his opponents. The 225th Hunger Games were won with beauty. The 226th Hunger Games were going to be won with brains, and the person to prove that would be me.

Let me back up for those of you that are confused. I, frankly, have a fairly dysfunctional family. My father is a complete and utter idiot, and also a Hunger Games fanatic. He loves seeing tributes beaten to death on the ground, while other tributes are going completely insane. My older brother, the winner of the 221st Hunger Games, is exactly like him. All brawns and certainly no brains. However, he didn't inherit my father's bloodlust.

My mother, however, is the only sane one in the family. She is completely logical, and is almost exactly like me personality wise. Now, I bet you can see how these two individuals could have issues in their marriage. They divorced when I was fairly young. My father took my brother and trained him; while my mother took me and made sure I got the best education possible. Soon, it became a contest to see who could raise the better child.

My father did try to train me for the Hunger Games for awhile, in hopes of severing my bond with my mother, but I just found it pointless. I did pick up some skills with daggers, but nothing to formidable in battle. Now, you are all probably wondering why would a sixteen year old girl who is completely logical want to enter in the Hunger Games.

It's simple, really. I inherited my father's bloodlust and passion for the Hunger Games. I've watched almost every rerun, and I have always studied every tributes strategy. I swear, if I would have volunteered for the 224th Hunger Games I could have won hands down. I want to know how it feels to kill. I want to know if killing someone can bring back the emotions I haven't felt since my parent's divorce. Will it bring me joy, rage, or sorrow? I'm a curious being, and I want to know. I want to experience all of it.

Am I right on the verge of being a psychopath? Yes. I know for a fact these kinds of thoughts aren't normal. However, I'm not a normal girl. I'm the kind of girl who never talks, and spends most of her time thinking about life and, especially, death.

"Ready for your big day?" my mother asked as she sat down with our food.

"Of course," I said happily. My mother taught me two things. One was that being logical and intelligent was far more beneficial than being emotional and stupid. The other thing was to always be polite. This behavior has taught me how to act as if I am completely normal. No one knows I am practically insane. Not even my own mother. They all think I'm the shy, quiet girl. Well, won't they all surprise when I take my first life in the arena.

I shake my head, and let out a small laugh. It is completely illogical, and yet logical, to know you are crazy and not be concerned about it. However, how could I be an intelligent without also being insane? Aren't all geniuses and revolutionaries psychotic?

Once we were done with breakfast, I quietly raced to my room, and changed into my reaping clothes. It was a simple black dress with a white jacket. I slipped into heels to make myself appear taller and more intimidating, and went downstairs towards my mother.

"You look amazing," my mother whispers. She brushes a stray hair away from my face, and looks at me with tears pooling in her eyes. "You don't have to go…"

"Yes I do mother. It's about time for us to prove to them that brains can win these games too. It's about time to show father which one of us is the better child." I reasoned.

My mother nodded, and we immediately left. My logic was impeccable at times. We walked all the way towards the town square, arm in arm. I got several nods on the way there, and smiled coyly back. I was a victor's sister, and I was fairly respected. As I should be. I was a snake among mice, and everyone needed to know that.

I gave my mother a quick kiss on the cheek, and walked straight towards me section. Right before I got to entrance, my brother rushed in front of me, and bumped me on purpose.

"Oh, sorry dear sister. Didn't see you there," Zeus hissed.

"Don't lie, you brainless invertebrate." I hissed back. In case you couldn't tell, we had a bit of a rivalry.

He looked confused for a moment, obviously not knowing what 'invertebrate' meant, and he growled back, "Well… Uh… Don't be such a smart ass, twerp. Respect those of a higher status than you!"

"And what would that status be, dear brother," I mocked.

"Victor," Zeus smirked.

"Not for long. Soon there are going to be two victors in the Smitz family." I laughed.

He looked confused for another second, before he understood what I was saying. "You… you are volunteering?"

"Of course. I'm just glad you aren't mentoring this year. I don't think I could stand you breathing down my neck every second."

I expected him to say something mean or snarky back, but he just stared at me. "But… what if you die?"

I looked into his eyes, and saw confliction in them. His concern was noted, and somewhat appreciated. Perhaps there is always an unbreakable bond between siblings… No, there can't be. That would mean that I had some sort of real and genuine compassion for my brother, and I simply refused to feel anything for him or anyone else. Emotions were pointless, and useless.

"Don't worry, I'm far too smart to die," I said simply. I brushed right past him, and made my way to the front of my section. I looked at the escort, Markus, and rolled my eyes. The people of the Capital were the most disgusting human being on the earth. Their fair city was filled with useless things that only appealed to their barbaric need and desire for pleasure. In fact, all humans are disgusting. They are all plagued with emotions and feelings for others. Then I remember, I was human, but sometimes I swore I was just a new race of human. A race that was intelligent, and perfect.

District Three only had two living victors, which was my brother and Tiner. Tiner was a fairly older man, and I remember seeing a rerun of his games. That man was a man made of brains. He simply found different chemicals in plants, made poison, and poisoned every water supply he could find. He killed over half the tributes with this method. It might have been a boring Hunger Games, but it was pure and utter genius on his part. He was one of my main inspirations to study chemicals and traps. I've read books and books on different chemicals and trap. So many, that I can practically win the games on that knowledge alone. Of course, knowing something and actually putting it to use are two completely different things.

My mind remembered last year's tribute. Solder and Hali. Both were idiots in their own ways. Solder was just like my brother. A volunteer made of brawns and no brains. The main difference between him and my brother was that Solder pissed off one of the Career girls. He was an instant target during the bloodbath, and he was the first tribute to die in the games, even though he scored an eleven. I actually knew Solder a little bit. He was fairly humorous, but still an imbecile through and through.

Hali was a different matter. That girl was definitely quick on her feet. She could think of plans with the snap of her fingers, but she wasn't the best at planning long term plans. She also, frankly, was not Hunger Games material. She was a 'lover, not a fighter'.

Suddenly, the Mayor was on stage and he made his speech. Time flew by, and Markus was digging around for a girl's name.

"Linny Slate!"

A tall blonde girl began walking to the stage, and I rolled my eyes. She was obviously a rich girl, and had never worked a day in her life. Bloodbath for sure. "Any volunteers?"

"I volunteer!" I yell out. I walk slowly up to the stage, and I can hear gasps from the audience. They are all wondering why the quite, shy girl is volunteering. They are wondering why I have a death wish. Well, in one way they are right. I do have a death wish, but it is not for me. It's for twenty-three other people.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Markus asked.

"Valhalla Smitz," I stated coldly.

"Sister of Zeus Smitz?" Markus gasped.

I nodded my head slowly, and tried as hard as I could not to look at him like he was scum of the bottom most layer of the earth. I mean, he is exactly that, but I don't want to show open hatred like that on national television.

"Our boy's turn!" Markus said excitedly. He reached his bright yellow hand into the reaping ball, and yanked out the boy's name.

"Thomas Birch!"

I immediately scanned the audience for my new enemies' face, when I heard a girl scream out, "Thomas! No!"

I spotted the girl in seconds, and tried to memorize everything about her. Her voice, her face, everything. It could be used later to hurt my new enemy. Thomas walked out of the sixteen year old section, and then my brain connected the name with the face. Thomas was fairly smart, and was one of the top students in our grade. I, of course, was smarter and far more talented, but Thomas was a force to be reckoned with. If that kid got his hand on any sort of machinery, even I would think twice about attacking him.

He stood on the stage, shaking like a leaf. We shook hands, and Markus started laughing and going on and on about something, trying to entertain the audience. As we shook hands, Thomas' eyes light up. Perhaps he thought that since we were the same age that we could form an alliance. I squeezed his hand as hard as I could, and shot him a deadly glare. No one, and I meant no one, were getting in my way to winning these games, especially some scrawny kid from three. I may be fairly physically weak and I may look just as weak as him, but I am completely opposite from him. I am one of the most intelligent beings ever created. I am a snake among mice, and I will make sure everyone in Panem knows about it in a matter of weeks…

**Thomas Birch's POV:**

I rubbed my hand as we entered the Justice Building. Valhalla had a tough grip, that's for sure. I never had talked to her, but she seemed kind of quiet, and nice. When I realized we would be going into the arena together, I thought maybe we could strike up an alliance. By the way she grabbed my hand, and started analyzing any and all weaknesses I had, I knew that wasn't going to happen. Valhalla certainly didn't seem like anything special. She was short, and even though she had a death grip I could tell that even I had better upper body strength than her. Of course, a death grip was all you needed when you were trying to strangle someone to death…

I stepped into my waiting room, and started pacing. I never thought I would be reaped for the Hunger Games. It just never occurred to me that it could happen. I was going to start a business with Lynette, my best friend. We were going to become rich and famous together. I blushed when I thought about the part of the plan we never agreed upon. She thought we were just friends, but I really liked her. I mean, _really_ liked her. I thought… that maybe…. If we worked so close with each other for years… she might… return the feelings…

The first people to enter the room are my mother and grandmother. My mother is in tears, which automatically brings the waterworks out of me. "You're so young…" my mother whispered.

"I'm sixteen," I replied back softly.

She broke down into sobs, and all three of us sat down on the couch. I held my mother as she cried, and soon both my grandmother and I joined in. They were all I had left besides Lynette. My father… Well, I never had a father. Mother refused to tell me who he was because she said he was a crack job. She never she would let him corrupt me like he had corrupted others, whatever that means. She said she was thankful the only thing I had inherited from him is his bright blue eyes.

My grandfather had died when I was little, but my grandmother said I was just like him. Apparently, he was an inventor too.

"Here, take these as your token," my grandmother whispered. She handed me two golden coins, and enclosed one of my hands around each. "They were your grandfathers."

"Thanks grandma," I whispered. I gave them both hugs, and soon the Peacekeepers forced them to leave. The next, and most likely the last, person to enter was Lynette. She ran over to me, and gave me an extremely large hug. For a second, I let myself believe she really did love me. I let myself believe that she cried out my name when I was reaped because she loved me. Then, once she stopped embracing me, I let that illusion shatter and leave just like a strong gale of winds.

"Come back," Lynette said sorrowfully.

"I'll try," I whispered.

"No, you will." Lynette said firmly.

"I can't… Okay, Lynette," I sighed. She gave me another hug, and soon the Peacekeepers forced her to leave as well. In a few minutes, they would escort me out of here as well. I looked at myself in the mirror, and rolled my eyes. Why would anyone want to sponsor me? I was a lanky, tall teenage male with no good looks. I had dark brown hair that went down the bottom of my neck. I usually kept it in a pony tail, but right now it was slicked back. My skin was fairly pale, and I looked like I was going to throw up.

Still… I was smart. Maybe not the smartest kid in District Three, but smart enough to win these games. I knew how to invent things. I've been doing it since I was ten. Tinkering with machinery was my hobby. If I could find something to tamper with in the arena, then maybe… just maybe… I could do something that would kill the big competition. If I did that, winning would be easy. I stared at my reflection again, and let myself smile. My life wasn't over yet. If I was going to die, then I was going to take as many people down with me as possible…

**I hope you like these two tributes! Thank you so much ToxicatedRose and Arysthae for these lovely tributes! I love them both to bits! The narcissist genius and the brave tinkerer. They are both just utterly amazing! So please review, and I'll try to get up the next Reapings as soon as possible :D**


	7. District Four Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Four:**

**Oceana Windsor's POV:**

I woke up to see the sun shining in through the windows, and I let out a sigh. Reaping Day again. The day where children are sent to the Capital and pampered right before they are forced to kill each other. I stand up swiftly, and walk over to the mirror. I stare at my reflection. I have District Four's trademarked sea green eyes. My chocolate brown locks go down a few inches past my shoulders in waves. I look at my slightly tan skin, and at my heart shaped face. Yes, I could be considered pretty. In fact, I know I'm fairly pretty. Still, after what happened, I could never look at myself and see a beautiful person again.

I continue to stare at my reflection, and try to see what is wrong. Something isn't right. I continue to stare, until I realize that what is missing is simply a smile. I spread a forced smile across my petite face, and make myself seem completely joyful. Smiles are the best thing in the world. They make you seem less broken. I quickly change into some older clothes, and put my hair into a pony tail.

I hurry down the stairs, and see that my father is the only one up. "You ready to go work?" he huffs.

"Yes sir," I smile. I follow him out the door, and we begin our short journey to the ocean. We make it there in a few minutes, and I take a deep breath of the salty air. The ocean is really the only thing that calms me down now days. The only thing that can bring a real smile to my face.

"Sia, hurry up!" my father called gruffly. I was snapped out of my thought process, and I ran over to my father. He was already hauling up our first net trap for fish. There weren't many fish in it since we never went out in the deep sea and just scavenged along the shore line, but there was definitely enough for our family's seafood shop. I quickly undo my homemade net, and begin to gut the fish. I find the work easy, but also a little disgusting. Gutting anything can is just gross.

I continue to gut one fish after another, and soon my mind wanders while my body continues to do the work. I used to smile all the time. I used to be an extremely happy person. I would always be the girl who would help anyone and would smile at strangers even. These days, I still did it but it was only one big act. I wasn't happy, and I certainly didn't want to smile all the time. I still yearned to help people, but a majority of people had stopped wanting my help.

"Sia, what are you doing?" My father yelled. I looked down at my hand, and realized it was bleeding. Crap, I accidently cut myself. He ran over, and quickly bandaged it up. "Go home and get ready. The Reapings are going to start soon anyways."

I nod in affirmation, and begin running back home. My father has immersed himself in his work for the past two years. He always wanted the perfect family, and he had for awhile. Then it was shattered, and the only way he could cope with it was by spending every second of every day working. I run into the house, and sprint up the stairs. I slam the door to my room, and let my fake smile drop for the first time since I left the house. Yes, I was even smiling when my hand was bleeding profusely.

I walked over to my dresser, and pulled out my usual Reaping dress. A simple ruffled purple dress that goes down to my knees. I slip into some simple shoes, and stare into the mirror again. No, I don't have time for makeup. I walk down the stairs, and find that my family is all ready for the Reapings as well. They are sitting down and eating, and I quickly sit beside my mother.

"How was work this morning, honey?" my mom asks.

"Great," I say happily.

We continue to eat, and the tension is as high as ever. My mother is the only one who still loves me. She is the only one who seems to care about what happens to me. My older brother, River, seems hate my guts. We used to be adjoined at the hip practically. That all changed very suddenly, and now we barely ever talked. However, my younger brother, Lakely, loves me blindly. He asks me constantly to go play with him at the lake with all his little friends. I refuse daily, and I can tell it hurts him. I just can't enjoy myself there.

One thing that brings me genuine joy these days is remembering the reason I was named Oceana. My parents met on the ocean when they went deep sea crabbing for some trip with friends. They had never met, and my mom told me it was love at first sight. When I was born several years later, they named me after the place they met. They named me after their favorite thing, the ocean.

"Ready to go?" River asks. All of us nod, and we leave the house. I have no idea where my father is. Most likely he will meet us at the Reapings. I walk in line with my family, but we stand out from all of the other families. Most families go to the Reapings with smiles on their faces. They try to make the last moments that they might see their children happy. Our family is one of the only ones that walk to the Reapings in complete and utter silence.

We make it to the square, and I quickly sign my name in. I step into the seventeen year old section. I shoot a few people a smile when I see them smiling back, but most of the other children my age take a few steps away from me. Rumors fly around this district like wildfire. There are rumors that I'm a sea witch who makes sacrifices to the God of the Sea monthly. There are other rumors that I am an insane psychopath. Both are untrue, yet they still hit the mark. I may be evil, but I try so hard every day to make up for it. I try harder than anyone else to be _good_, but it's never enough. It will never be enough.

I glanced up at the stage, and Mayor Aquamarine began her speech. I completely blocked her out, and focused my attention on our mentors and our escort. Our escort was the same girl we always had. She was bubbly, and fairly annoying. Her name was… Lily. Yes, it was Lily. She might very well be a kind individual, but for right now she just seemed like an annoying little twit. Our mentors were the same this year as they were last year. Ethan won the 223rd Hunger Games. He was very well liked back here in District Four, and the Capital took to him as well. He was the victor who came back home and fell in love. His wife, Alicia, was somewhere in the crowd. The District and the Capital were devastated last year when Alicia gave birth to a stillborn…

Crescent, the other mentor, stood on stage with a hollow look in her eyes. She used to be extremely happy and joyous. However, last year her twin brother died. No one knows why, but everyone was shocked, since he was also a victor.

"Everyone ready to find out who are lovely tributes are this year!" Lily cheered. District Four gave out a loud yell of encouragement, and Lily stuck her hand in the girl's ball. Every since the Quarter Quell last year, tributes are dying to get into the Hunger Games. Last year, there were only two volunteers because everyone was afraid of the Head Gamemaker. This year, everyone wants to prove their worth and win. The reason is last year's Hunger Games will never be forgotten, and neither will the victor. Volunteers expect the same thing this year. They expect to go down in history forever.

"Oceana Windsor!"

My body freezes, and I feel my brain beginning to go fifty miles an hour. How… how did this happen? I'm supposed to be here! I can't leave! I can't leave until I make up for what I did! I can't die without making up for it! I feel myself beginning to hyperventilate, and tears begin streaming down my face. Someone pats me on the back, and someone else practically pushes me forward. Suddenly, I remember I am on national television. I force one of my fake smiles on my face, and begin my walk towards the stage. Along the way, I hear others mutter and snicker to themselves.

"Let the witch go to the Hunger Games. We'll see if her craft saves her there!"

"Good riddance!"

"Witch…"

"Murderer…"

"Demon's mistress…"

"Let her go to the Hunger Games and satisfy her bloodlust again!"

It takes all of my self control to not let more tears fall down my face, but I continue to seem almost joyous. Lily asks for volunteers, and not a single person speaks. Looks like all the girl's who were going to volunteer this year want me gone for good. They have every right to think nothing of me, but they still shouldn't wish this upon me.

"Walter Montgomery!" Lily yells. A child of fifteen walks to the stage with an arrogant smile on his face. "Any volunteers?"

"Yes ma'am." Someone yells calmly. My eyes go straight to the eighteen year old section, and out strides Leith Tallen. The Cold Career. For some reason, I knew he would be the one to volunteer this year. He had been training for the Hunger Games his entire life, and he certainly had the heart of a killer. He was extremely quiet, and never really talked to anyone. Of course, he had quite the history. He used to be a happy guy with a wonderful girlfriend, and then it was all gone before he could even yell out her name.

"What's your name?" the escort asked.

"Leith Tallen." He whispered. He was a less attractive version of Finnick Odair. He had the same bronze hair was the infamous heart throb, except Leith's was a darker bronze. He was tall, had an almost perfect tan, and also had bright green eyes that seemed to have gray mixed in with it. He was definitely nice to look at, but I knew he had a cold fortress built around his heart. Both of us were broken, and neither of us was going to seek out friendship in the other.

We shook hands, and began to make our way to the Justice Building. Right before the door closed, I heard someone scream out "Get ready to burn, murderer!" I closed my eyes, and forced the tears not to appear. I deserved it… I deserved all of it… Because….

I murdered my two year old brother.

**Leith Tallen's POV:**

I settled into my waiting room, and looked at the ground. I was now going to the Hunger Games. It had always been my dream since I was little. Win the games, and then come home with money and riches for my family. Now, the only reason I volunteered was to see if I could feel again. Sometimes, people wound you. With certain people, the wound patches itself up quite quickly and it was as if they were never hurt in the first place. Others heal with time, and the wound leaves a nasty scar for all to see. Then there are those of us whose wounds never heal. They are always raw, and bleeding.

That's how I am.

The wounds left on me never seemed to heal. Every time I saw her and him walking through the district, the wound would just reopen and bleed even more. Eventually, I just closed myself off from everyone. I created a stone box around my heart, and no one could get past it. Recently, I've wanted to let the stone wall down. I've wanted to feel emotions for others again. I wanted to feel something else besides emptiness and pain. However, no matter what I did nothing could bring back the emotions I had practically destroyed. The Hunger Games were the only solution I could think of, and this was my last year to volunteer. It was a make or break situation, and thankfully I made it.

I just hoped this wasn't the wrong choice.

My brow furrowed, and I thought of last year's game. Last year's Quarter Quell doubled the amount of tributes by having each tribute have a replacement tribute. When that tribute died, they were replaced by one of their loved ones. It was also implied that if an original tribute won, then their loved one got to go home safe. The key word here is implied. Anyways, last year's tributes were different from the District Four normality. Rapids was simply a spit fire, but she had no training whatsoever. Charlie was a trained Career, but he was also a rich boy. Neither of them had much of a chance in my opinion. Charlie's fiancée and replacement tribute, however, was definitely a contender. She was brilliant, and extremely strong. I was shocked when Rouge ended up killing her.

My mind then shifted over to Oceana. I had no idea what to think of her. Everyone here knew for a fact her two year old brother died. Some people thought it was an accident, and others said she went insane and murdered him out of bloodlust. Others said she was a sea witch and sacrificed him. I had no idea which one was true, but I definitely wanted to find out. All humans were curious by nature, and I was no exception.

My parents are the first ones to enter the waiting room, and I stand up slowly. "Hey mom… dad…" I whispered.

"Leafy…" my mother whispered. She walked over to me, and tried to embrace me. I sidestepped it and rubbed her shoulder. I didn't do hugs. Ever. Not my thing.

I saw tears beginning to pool in both their eyes, but both of them quickly brushed them away. They knew this day was coming for quite some time. "Don't worry, I'm coming back." I murmured. We exchanged hushed goodbyes, and they were off in seconds.

The next person to enter the room rattled my world.

"Leith," she whispered.

"Nerida," I replied back.

My mind flashed back to the happy memories we had. She was my best friend, along with Kevin. The three of us spent all of our time together. Kevin knew I loved her. He knew all my joyous smiles were secretly for her. When I was fourteen, I got up the guts to tell her. Her answer was simply she didn't feel the same way.

I was devastated. My heart was broken, and I stopped talking to her for weeks. I continued to spend time with Kevin, but a few weeks after the incident I caught him and Nerida together. He knew I loved her, and yet he still pursued her. I stopped talking to both of them, and spent all of my time training. I closed off all emotions, because I never wanted to be hurt again. Maybe I would have healed with time. Maybe I would have gotten over it, but District Four is a fairly public place. Seeing them kissing on the beach, or sitting by the lake always brought up feelings of bitterness.

Oh, and it gets even better. Nerida is pregnant. Eight months pregnant, right this second. Her and Kevin's love child. It made me sick.

"I came to see you off," she stated.

"Well, you saw me," I replied coldly.

"Leith… I'm sorry for what happened…" She murmured.

"I'm over it." I lied.

She walked over to hug me, but I gently pushed her away. Fire burned in her eyes, and she glared right at me. "Fine, be bitter! Be angry! I've tried for four years to apologize to you! This was the first time in four years I could force you to stay in a room and talk to me, and even now you refuse to give me that right! We were best friends! I'm sorry I didn't feel the same way about you, but get over it! I would have given my own life for yours four years ago, but I couldn't pretend I loved you when I didn't! Sorry if that's a sin!"

Before I could even reply, she stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her. I sighed, and shook my head. Normal people would have felt either anger or sadness. I still felt nothing. I stared out the window, and saw her exit the Justice Building. I was going to feel again, one way or another. Whether that meant falling in love, or butchering every tribute until some spark of guilt entered my body, I would learn to feel again… If not, then I might as well die right now. A life without emotions is not a life at all…

**Thanks hollowedoutheart and candykiller for these two amazing tributes! I hope I wrote them right XD please review, all of you! Gosh, I am on a little high right now because I finished two seven page papers, and wrote this! Yes, I know, feel free to worship me ;D **


	8. District Five Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Five:**

**Admyer Elverson's POV:**

"Admyer, hurry up with that order!"

"Yes sir," I squeaked.

I quickly tried to package up the meat as neatly and perfectly as possible. Once I was done, I passed the package through the small window, and my boss grappled for it.

"About time, useless boy," he muttered.

I winced at his comment, but pretended I didn't even hear it. That's what I always was. I was the boy that heard everyone's insults. Everyone's secrets. Everyone's rumors. But I just shoved it down into the depths of my heart, and buried it under everything I could possibly stuff in there. I'd say I was always fine. I was never good, but I also was never bad. I was just fine.

At least, that's what I thought.

I put on a neutral expression, and went back to packing the next order or meat. I've had two jobs for quite a time now, but it was never enough. In District Five, nobody paid their employees that well. If you owned a business, you were golden and usually had enough food. If you were an underling, you were disposable and it wasn't uncommon to find yourself starving to death on the streets.

I was the workaholic of the family. Frankly, I felt empty when I had nothing to do but sit and wait. I always needed a job or mission to do. Something to keep my body preoccupied while I thought. I glanced in the mirror to my right as I continued to pack up the meat. I was the typical District Five sixteen year old. I was scrawny, underfed, and extremely pale. The people of District Three and Five never saw the sun practically, which meant we were very pale if we weren't born with darker skin. My dull, light brown hair peeked out from under my white bandanna, and my hazel eyes seemed extremely hollow and dark from the lack of sleep I had been getting. My white smock was covered in blood, but it was just from the animals. I hadn't actually cut any of them up or killed them. I was just simply the person who wrapped it so the customers didn't have to carry back a giant slab of bloody meat.

The last thing I saw my reflection do was slip one of the extra packages under my shirt and into my pants. Two jobs didn't keep food on the table. Two jobs and stealing was what definitely kept everyone fed. I knew that if I was caught there would be severe repercussions. I knew this, but I couldn't let it happen again. I had to keep my sister alive at all costs.

After another hour of tedious work, my boss came to the back. "All right boys, time to clean up and head home. You have to make sure you're presentable for the Reapings."

All of us nodded, and I watched the other boys head towards their lockers. While they changed out of their clothes, I continued to make sure my station was spotless and perfectly clean from any and all blood. Once all the other guys had cleared out, I tip toed towards my locker and changed into my regular clothes. I slipped the meat I had stolen into my knapsack, and snuck out the backdoor. Sometimes our boss would check us to see if we stole anything, but he always would guard the front door. For some reason, he never questioned why I never left through the front door. In all honesty, it was because I tended to fade into the background. I went unnoticed quite a lot, and I actually didn't mind. It kept people from knowing the real me, which I liked to keep behind a stone wall most of the time.

I ran back towards my house, and entered the small building. I set the stolen goods along with my pay on the kitchen table, and walked towards my room. I slipped in silently, and glanced at my little sister, Dekka. Her sweet little nine year old face was so serene. You would never guess that there were any troubles in the world around her. She was so naïve to our terrible family situation. I appreciated the escape from reality, but it often made my parents depressed that they couldn't care for their children physically. _I_ was the one who had two jobs, while they each only had one. _I_ was the one who risked my life to steal. _I_ was the one who was suffering the most physically from lack of sleep. _I_ was the one who felt disgusted with myself, and _I_ was the one who sometimes just wanted to kill myself.

Yet, no one knew this because I was good at this game. I was one of the experts at the lying game. I could be very deceptive, and I had no problem coming up with lies on the spot. I was just going to keep faking it until I make it.

"Hey, sis, time to wake up," I whispered. Dekka yawned loudly, and opened her bright blue eyes. She and Aussie had the same bright blue eyes…

"Okay," Dekka muttered as she rubbed her eyes. She got up, and made her way to her dresser. I walked over to mine, and changed into my reaping clothes as soon as quickly as I could. They used to be my fathers, and they were just a simple brown suit. It had some holes in it, but it was no big deal. I turned around when I knew for sure Dekka was done changing, and saw her in an extremely old pink dress. She had worn it for most of her Reapings, and it was obviously too small.

I grabbed her small hand, and led her out to the dining table. I quickly began to cook the meat I had stolen, and threw in a few vegetables to make some sort of scramble. If only we could afford eggs…

"Good morning," my mother said shakily. I glanced behind me to see my elderly mother taking a seat next to Dekka. She was shaking, and wringing her hands roughly. I guess I didn't work harder than everyone in this household. My mother was working far more than her body allowed her to, which usually led to her having nervous breakdowns along with an extreme amount of back pain. Then there was my father who was rarely home because of how much he was working. In fact, I doubted I would even see him until after the Reapings.

I served our small breakfast, and we ate slowly. We had plenty of time before the Reapings. Eventually, we finished and we made our long walk to the town square. Everyone marched to the square in complete silence. In District Five, the Reapings were a solemn thing. Since we barely ever had any victors, this was pretty much the funeral for the two unlucky kids who get chosen.

My mom and Dekka go off to the sides, while I go up and sign up for as much tesserae as they allow me too. My name is in that bowl far more than most kids. The likelihood of me being chosen is extremely high, but I refuse to even think that it could happen. If I'm sent away, the main income and food source from our house is gone. That wouldn't help my family survive. Several years ago, we lost my little brother Aussie to starvation. I swore I wouldn't let that happen again. Dekka is not going to die… Not as long as I'm still breathing.

I head into the sixteen year old section, and I simply wait. Suddenly, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I glanced behind me to see Soren smiling at me. Soren is one of my colleagues and friends from my other job. We sit next to each other in the assembly line, and that gives us plenty of time to talk. Behind him, I see the twins Rebel and Regal arguing about something.

"Excited for the Reapings?" Soren asked. He shuffled so we were standing side by side. His hand landed on my shoulder, and it felt like the world stopped. I quickly stepped away from him, and shook my head. I was already enough of a freak because of my personality and looks. My sexuality only made me more of a freak.

All right, I'll admit it, I'm gay. Yes, I have a crush on my straight friend Soren. It's disgusting. There is an extremely low tolerance for gay people in District Five. In fact, I bet there is a low tolerance for it in all the Districts, and maybe even in the Capital. I wouldn't know. I've never been outside my District. That's how I became so good at acting. Pretending to be one way when you are really completely the opposite is a great way to become a good actor and liar. No one knows about my dirty little secret, and I intend to keep it that way. I've accepted that there is no happily ever after for me. I just got to keep working. Keeping my hands busy is what keeps my mind away from these delicate topics.

He took me shaking my head as a 'no' to his question. "Yeah, no one is… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" I whispered. He gave me a skeptical look, and I shot him a fake smile. Either he was very perceptive, or I just couldn't keep up the pretense of acting around him. Either way, he tended to see through my lies quickly. Before he could interrogate me any further, the Mayor mounted the stage.

He talked about how much we sucked because we didn't win the rebellion. We got it, now move on. I glanced at the mentors, and immediately was glad we had them. Memory had won the 222nd Hunger Games mostly on her bravery, and partly because she went psychotic and killed a ton of people half way through her games. She seemed fairly clever, but probably not an actual genius. Felix was his games quite a long time ago, and was now in his mid thirties or so. I just remember hearing about how he was the only one who got away when all his allies were killed by the Careers. They thought that they didn't need to hunt him down because any one of them could handle a District Five boy that appeared to be a bloodbath. They were all proved very wrong later in the games.

We had a new escort this year, and he declared his name was Julius. He had purple hair that went down to his waist, and everything about him was extremely feminine. Thank Panem I wasn't that girly, otherwise I most likely would have been killed by now.

"Time to pick a precious gem from these lovely tributes!" Julius sang. He whimsically pulled out a name, and read it out with great enthusiasm. "Winnifred Fontane!"

I glance around, and try to see who the unfortunate girl is. I had never heard that name before. Suddenly, a girl steps out of the fifteen year old section. Her dirty blonde hair was put up in a bun, and her green eyes showed just how confused she was. She looked extremely out of it, and would have sworn she was on morphling if it wasn't for the fact that she showed no physical signs of drug use.

"Anything you'd like to say, dear?" Julius smiled as he put the microphone towards her mouth.

She gazed at him with a thoughtful look, and then glanced out at the audience. "Is there really any normal reason that we take a train to the Capital? Isn't a hovercraft much faster and efficient?"

Julius guffawed at her, and everyone was shocked by her completely random and useless comment. "On to the boys," Julius recovered after he asked for volunteers. He dug around for the perfect name, and slowly drew it out. So many slips had my name on them… "Admyer Elverson!"

I let out a small gasp of surprise, but quickly made my face blank. I marched up to the stage, and took my place beside Winnifred. "Anyone want to volunteer?"

Silence was his response. "I present you with the 226th Hunger Games District Five tributes!" I shook hands with Winnifred, and she just gazed into my eyes. A chill went down my spine. Either she was on drugs, or she was just always thinking deeply about something. I personally couldn't tell which. I walked towards the Justice Building, and stole one last glance at my mom and sis. They were both crying. Dekka may be naïve, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that every year two people left, and then a week later they came back in a wooden box. In that moment, I knew I wasn't going to be one of those people coming home in a box. I had to come home for her. I had never let her down, and I certainly wasn't going to start now…

**Winnifred Fontane's POV:**

I step into my waiting room, and sink to the floor. No… this couldn't be happening. I began humming to myself, and slowly rocked back and forth. I couldn't do this… I couldn't go into the Hunger Games…

Tears began to form in my eyes. I was a bloodbath tribute. I wasn't a spit fire like last year's tribute, Paloma, nor was I a strong hero like the other tribute from last year, Neal. They were victor material, but I certainly wasn't. I was the girl who spent all her time day dreaming. I liked to spend my time in fantasies rather than in reality.

My mind immediately went to my mom when I thought of the Hunger Games. When she was thirteen, her best friend was reaped. Her best friend was tortured by a Career, and my mom had to sit there and watch it. She had nightmares and hallucinations for years, but slowly became better. She met my father, and they fell in love. Eventually, they got married and had me. Then, something snapped and my mom lost it again. She was immediately taken to the District's mental hospital, and has been there ever since. I never really knew her, and the one time I visited her, she didn't even know who I was. She had no recollection of my father or I. All she could think about was her best friend, and she was practically a thirteen year old girl again.

The opened slowly, and my father stepped in. He fell to the floor as well, and I clung to him desperately.

"Dad… Please…. I can't go!" I sobbed. "I don't want to end up like her!"

My father stroked my head as he spoke soft words of comfort. He had always been my rock. He was the only person who understood me. Everyone else just knew me as the weird girl who had nothing going on in her brain. My father and my best friend were the only people who could see through my quirks and realize I actually had a brain _and_ human emotions.

"You won't be like her. You're strong, Fred. You can handle this. You're fast, and you're a quick learner. You are good at memorizing things as well. You have a shot at this," My father lied through his teeth.

Soon, it was time for him to go. Right before he was shoved out the door, he handed me my favorite necklace. It had my three lucky charms on it. A dove, a rose, and a music note. This would be my token. As soon as my father was gone, my best friend, Adria, strode in.

She already had tears in her eyes, and both of us started sobbing. Girls the age of fifteen shouldn't have to deal with this crap! We should be having sleepovers, and enjoying life! We shouldn't have to worry about someone stabbing us in our sleep, and plotting other people's deaths!

"Be strong… Please, Fred, don't die." With these words, I was filled with something. Perhaps it was courage, but I believe it was more like desperation. I wouldn't let Adria end up like my mother. I would not… _could_ not let her become crazy because of my death. If I died, I had to make sure it was quick… However, I wasn't planning on dying any more. My father was right about one thing. I was smart. As long as I put my brain to work, I could come out of this alive. As long as I steered clear of death, and any situations that could possibly put me near death, I was golden. I had a shot at this… But so did twenty-five other tributes… All of us had an equal shot… Hopefully, luck was on my side for once in my life…

**Sorry for not updating in forever! I've been so busy with tests and homework, and this entire weekend I have been super sick! Like, I can't even get out of bed sick. So yeah, here is a chapter that I hope isn't too sucky. Thank you Girlonfire8 and 3rdbase101 for giving me these two lovely tributes! I had a wonderful time writing them! **

**So, please review and tell me what you think of these two tributes!**


	9. District Six Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Six:**

**Lucy Carter's POV:**

"Everything going as planned?" I hear Head Gamemaker Lavender whisper in my ear.

"Of course," I say with a smirk on my face.

I continue to look in the mirror. I'm trying to get used to my new face. Well, I'm actually just trying to get used to my new _body_. I continue to curl my shoulder length brown hair, while constantly making different faces at myself in the mirror. This time last year, I was in the body of a pathetic twelve year old. Now I was in the body of a strong, well bred fifteen year old. You just have to love the Capital.

My green eyes flash as I continue to prepare myself for the Reapings. I'm going to be chosen from the crowd, just like President Raven planned. This was all her idea. It was brilliant, and I was just thrilled that she chose to use me of all people. I slip into a purple dress, and put on some purple eye shadow.

If you watched last year's games, you would know me as Angel. I was one of the Capital's favorite mutts. I looked like an angelic twelve year old, but I could easily change my form to that of a devil. Sadly, I was killed by that stupid District Five girl, Paloma. Gosh, I'm glad that witch is dead. If she would have won, I swear I would have come back from the dead and killed her myself.

Anywho, after those games ended, President Raven had a plan. Her plan last year was simply to bring back three tributes from the dead and have them do whatever she wanted. Sadly, it didn't work out to well simply because they were still people. They had emotions, and consciences. Her new plan was to send me in as a tribute. A mutt that she could give orders that had no choice but to follow.

I smirked at myself once I was done. I still liked to go by Angel, but my alias was Lucy Carter. I was a middle class fifteen year old girl who had a loving stay at home mother. I had a hard working father, and a seven year old brother. Of course, it was all one big lie. I had memories of these people implanted in my brain to help me act during the interviews and around other tributes, but I knew they weren't real. This was all just one big game, and I was a small pawn. I was being used, and I knew there was no chance of me winning. Having a mutt win? That's impossible! Once the Gamemakers and the President were done with me, all they had to do was flip a switch and I would be dead.

Luckily, they equipped me so that I _could_ win these games if I was an actual human being. They implanted several fighting techniques with knives into my brain, and they also gave me plenty of strength and intelligence. Plus, I had an amazing personality. I was originally modeled after President Raven herself, but when they changed my body and mind, they also added in some more personality from another person. A tribute, in fact. Now I'm the perfect mixture between President Raven, and Misty Johnson, the District Six tribute from the 222nd Hunger Games. Misty Johnson was most likely one of the smartest, most manipulative, and most devious tribute to ever see these games. She would have won if it wasn't for those stupid girls Memory and Taylor double teaming her.

I fluffed my hair one last time, and headed out the door of my fake home. It was simply an abandoned building, but the Gamemakers had put all the things I needed for the Reaping there. I walked down the stone road towards the town square. My eyes slowly analyzed any and all possible male tributes. My District Partner would be my biggest weakness. He would have never heard of me, and if he ran his mouth at all to someone smart the other tributes might be able to figure something out. Maybe not that I was a mutt, but perhaps that I was dangerous which would not only put too much attention on me, but it would also make me a target.

My purpose in these games was to stir the pot. I was to be the puppeteer pulling the tributes strings, while my own strings were being pulled by President Raven. If I was in the spotlight, then I would not be able to pull the other tributes strings without possibly getting mine severed. My other goal was to stay alive as long as possible. I didn't want to die. I may be artificially made, but I do have feelings as well. Being alive and feeling human is… fun I guess. I don't want to give it up before I absolutely have too.

I sign in once I get to the town square, and I walk into the fifteen year old section. I immediately analyzed the escort and my mentor. District Six escort's name was Singing Rain. She always wore extremely over the top clothes that matched her over the top name. Right now she was wearing blue dress that appeared to be almost like rain fall, but the effect was ruined by her bright yellow hair that I assumed was supposed to be lightening.

District Six had only one living mentor, and her name was Naomi Picou. She was extremely quiet, and rarely seemed to talk. She and her brother were both reaped, and they made it to the final two because of her gifts with nature, and his gifts with hunting. The reason she was victor is because he killed himself before she could get the chance to drive a knife through her own heart. There used to be another mentor, Mitch, until a few years ago. Sadly, he died of morphling overdose so now it was just Naomi.

Once the Mayor was done with his speech, Singing Rain strutted up to the microphone and gave the audience an excited glance. "It's time for the 226th Hunger Games! We'll start off with the ladies!"

Singing Rain dug her hand into the Reaping bowl that I knew was filled only with my name. Lucy Carter. I straightened out the folds in my dress, and prepared to make my way towards the stage.

"Lucy Carter!"

I hear some confused whispers emanate from the crowd. Not a single person here has ever heard of me. I quickly made my way out of the crowd, and put on the bravest face possible. I took my spot next to Singing Rain, and she shouted "Any volunteers?"

I spotted a movement in the eighteen year old girl's section. My eyes immediately zoned in on her, and I could see her beginning to raise her hand. Her mouth opened to shout out that she would volunteer. District Six hadn't had a volunteer since the 222nd Hunger Games! This could not be happening.

Right before the girl was about to yell out her statement, two Peacekeepers appeared by her side and covered her mouth. They quietly and discreetly dragged her into a side alley, and the last thing I saw was one of the Peacekeepers snap her neck with his bare hands. I glanced around; surprised no one had noticed the strange event. Then I remembered a few things. One, the girl was towards the very back of her section. Two, everyone was far more worried about themselves getting reaped, or thankful that they didn't, to pay attention to some random girl on the sidelines. Three, if she was going to volunteer, obviously she was desperate and had next to no friends who would look out for her.

"On to the boys!" Singing Rain chimed. She dug around for the right name, and slowly opened the slip of paper.

"Adam Reid!"

My eyes locked on to the first movement I saw, which happened to be in the seventeen year old section. A tall man made his way through his section with a small grin spread across his face. He was extremely attractive by human standards. I believe the appropriate human phrase would be 'I'd tap that'. He had dark blonde hair, and brown eyes that did seem to smolder a bit. He stood beside me, and Singing Rain asked for volunteers. No one did volunteer, and I turned towards him to shake his hand.

As soon as our hands met, I knew that his looks were ruined by his personality. If hands could make a baby, he just made five with me. I felt like I was being molested just by how he was touching my hand. I felt myself begin to dry heave, but I quickly controlled my body and kept my brave face intact.

We walked towards the Justice Building, and I smiled at the cameras as I passed them by. The other tributes had better watch out for me. I may not have a chance of winning these games, but I certainly have a chance of making their lives a living hell. Better yet, I have very good chances of not just ruining their lives, but ending them as well!

**Adam Reid's POV:**

As soon as the door slams shut behind me, my fake smile fades. I feel myself being to shake, and I slowly lower myself onto the soft couch. This shouldn't be happening! I know kids who are thirteen, and they have way more slips in the reaping ball than me! I never had to take a single ounce of tesserae out in my life, and somehow I've been reaped. The odds were with me, not against me!

I feel a single tear slide down my cheek. I absolutely hate showing any sort of emotions in public. I try to act strong, but sometimes it gets tiring. I know for a fact I'm not the best person in the world. I'm a complete snob, I'm arrogant, and I'm overly aggressive. I tend to rub everyone the wrong way, and I know I'm a complete womanizer. Still, do I deserve to be reaped more than anyone else? How is any of this fair!

The first, and most likely last, people to enter are my brother and sister, Chase and Arianna. They are the only people who get me. They can see past my abundance of flaws, and they see someone worth sticking around for. My family dynamic is… interesting. Most people think that being rich is a great thing. That it is the only thing to aspire for.

They are all wrong.

I would kill to be part of a real family. It seems like a ton of poor families have nothing except each other, and they are always extremely close. My family is the exact opposite. Since we have so much money, we can be pretty self-absorbed, and we rarely depend on each other. My father is fairly shallow, and only seems to care for my eldest brother Eric. Eric is a complete and utter self-absorbed prick, but he is a _smart_ self-absorbed prick. He is the one who is going to keep up the family money in my father's eyes, which is why Eric is practically the only one he talks to besides our mother.

Mother is extremely self-absorbed and shallow. She is always out with her other rich friends buying things, or doing whatever old rich people do. It's kind of disgusting that she can't even find enough time to focus on one kid like father seems to be able too.

Chase, my older brother, is the least self-absorbed one of the family. He is extremely likable, and he tends to spend his money on others rather than on himself. I could never see anyone hating him like how most people hate the rest of our family. Arianna can be a bit of a ditz sometimes, but she is very loyal and is always there for me. She is the best younger sister I could ask for, that's for certain!

As soon as they see me crying on the couch, they both come and sit on either side of me. They know I practically never show how I really feel, which means that this is a big deal. Well, let's think about this. I'm being taken into the Hunger Games, and I am most likely going to die. This is a big frickin deal!

"You'll be fine," Arianna said frantically, "You're strong and big! You could knock out anyone in this district with a single punch!"

"That's an extreme over exaggeration, Ari," I murmured.

"That may be, but she has a point. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." Chase reasoned.

"See, I'm not the only one who thinks so! Just go in there, fists a blazing, and you can come home to us in a matter of days!" Arianna cheered.

"The Games don't start for about a week, dear," I rolled my eyes.

She playfully slapped me on the arm, and talked even faster, "That is _so_ not the point! The point is you have just as good of a shot of winning than everyone else! In fact, you have a better chance than probably half of the tributes! As for the Careers, you just have to let them take themselves out, and then you are practically victor!"

I laughed, despite the amount of depression that had settled around me. She could always find a way to cheer me up with her constant rambling.

"To be a victor, you have to think like a victor. So, see you in a few weeks." Chase said confidently.

"Yeah! This isn't goodbye! This is just a 'see you later' thing!" Arianna sang happily.

"I guess," I tried to say as confidently as they had said their prior comments. Chase gave me a quick hug, and Arianna gave me a longer one. Soon, they were escorted out, and I knew that was the end of my visitors. My father probably assumed I was good as dead, and that it was a blessing that he wouldn't have to waste money on an extra mouth to feed. My mother was probably out getting attention from anyone, playing the 'woe is her' card. As for Eric, he was either out demeaning me by telling everyone I was screwed, or he was making out with his equally snobby girlfriend, Hailey.

My mind soon roamed to the subject of my District Partner. I had never once heard of Lucy Carter. She looked to be maybe lower to middle class, which meant I definitely should have come across her once or twice in my entire life in this District. She seemed likable and nice enough, but something just seemed to be off about this entire situation. Oh gosh, please don't let her be crazy like last year's tribute! Abby Parker went insane on the first day of the games. Well, some people say it was the medicine she used to patch up a wound that did it, but you never know. At least I'm not like Quince Fisher from last year. That kid was extremely weak, but he seemed to have some brains.

I guess I was the exact opposite from that kid. He was brains, but no brawns. I was brawns, but no brains. Of course, his lack of brawns got him killed. Maybe I could make it as long as I use my brawns well. Just do what Arianna said, and go in fists a blazing. I've wrestled with Chase so much that I have no problem leaping at the first person to come near me. Of course, this is way different than wrestling. In the fights coming up, I could die so easily. There is no 'tapping' out. It's kill, or die.

**Thank you so much bellecatci for the amazingly interesting Angel/mutt tribute, and Justaholyfool for the complex womanizer. I love both of these tributes a ton, and I hope I wrote them how you pictured them :D **

**Anyways, please review! I am not almost officially half way done with the Reapings! Then on to the pregame stuff (which is my ABSOLUTE favorite! So much drama and foreshadowing XD) and then on to the games which are also super amazing! Is it bad I'm more excited for the pre game stuff than the actual games at this point in time XD So yes, review and tell me what you think about these awesome tributes :D**


	10. District Seven Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Seven:**

**Lucian Valcoor's POV:**

Wood. Wood was one of the most amazing things in the world. It was cold, solid, and tough. The feeling of breaking it was absolutely empowering at times. I continued to saw my way through one of the logs, and watched the other lumberjacks do their work as well. Lumberjacks were divided up into three categories. There were the choppers that cut down the trees with their axes. There were the cutters that sawed through the logs with saws so that they could fit into wagons and be transported to warehouses. Then there were the shippers who heaved the logs into wagons and pulled the wagons all the way back into town.

Each of these jobs gave each person an advantage if they get reaped to go into the Hunger Games. Or if someone, such as myself, decides to volunteer. Thankfully, work would soon be done and I could go into my sanctuary. I continue to saw the precious wood, until finally the Advisor blows his whistle.

"Time to go get ready for the Reapings," he yelled.

I picked up my saw, and gave it to the Advisor when he came around and collected our tools. 'Weapons' weren't allowed in the District unless you were a Peacekeeper. However, they never said anything about weapons outside the District. I walked with our group for a ways, until I sneakily and quickly veered off our path and into the woods. I slowly made my way to my sanctuary. I made sure to take a long winding path in case someone had decided to follow me. I sometimes could get extremely paranoid.

I finally found my tree, and I slid under the ever growing roots. When I was ten, I played in the woods quite a lot. In fact, I played in them so much that I eventually found my way around quite easily. One day, I stepped a little too hard on a loose patch of dirt, and I went tumbling under this tree. It turned out there was a small hollow cavern underneath it. It wasn't very big, but it was big enough to keep my prizes.

My two saws I had managed to steal from work were hanging off of two strong roots, and several rusty kitchen knives were scattered across the ground. Rope and chains hung across the wall. I slowly picked up one of my saws, and ran my fingers across the edge.

I've heard people say I'm insane. In fact, I once heard a doctor mention to my parents I might have some mental problem. Some mental illness or instability. My parents, to this day, still don't believe the doctor. They think he was a crack pot. The sad thing, I knew he was right.

I'm not like other people. I know my mind functions far different from everyone else's. My mind always tends to think about death and torture. I remember the one time I found a wounded fox cub in the woods. It had broken its leg in some sort of way. Most people would have tried to help it. I took it back to my lair, and tortured it to death. The way it squirmed under my touch was tantalizing. The way it let out howls of indescribable pain was just like an orchestra of beautiful melodies.

I soon became a hunter just for the sport. I kept my pelts, and I would always relish the precious memories I had made with each creature. But soon, creature didn't satisfy my thirst anymore. I needed blood. Real blood. Human blood.

District Seven has had a myth for centuries. They say the Witch Doctor lives out in these woods. They tell their children to never come out here because he will enchant them and slowly devour them. Of course, it was a silly fable.

Until recently.

I was fifteen when a thirteen year old girl wandered out into the woods. She was lost, and extremely frightened. I told her I knew the way back to her home. I led her to my tree, and knocked her out when her back was turned. I tied her up with chains and ropes, and immediately began the torture. Every time she passed out from pain, I made sure to wake her up. The feeling of dominating another human being is the most invigorating thing in the world.

In my parent's fairly extensive library, I had found a book about real witch doctors. A book that taught me how to make shrunken heads. It's very simple, in all reality. First, you remove the skull from the head. Then you remove all flesh from inside the cranium. You sew the eye lids and mouth shut, and then quickly place something heavy such as wood or stone inside to help keep its form. You boil the head in certain herbs that can be found in the woods, and then you dry it with hot rocks and mold it to help it contain its shape.

I flash back to reality, and let out a low chuckle. I pick up little Annabeth's head. I let out a louder, higher chuckle. _Little… shrunken head… thirteen year old girl… That was a good one, Lucian. _

I had killed three humans during my seventeen years of life. Two I hunted down and one hunted me down. When I was fifteen, I killed little Annabeth. That satisfied my lust for blood for over a year. I was fine with torturing and hunting down animals. Then last year, the urge to kill a human came again.

I found a fourteen year old boy who was playing in the woods. I told him I had the perfect spot to play hide and seek. He followed me warily, and eventually was smart enough to run away. I chased him down, and yanked out one of my knives. I quickly stabbed him through the legs, and then I knocked him out cold. I began to drag him back to my cavern.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Two people saw me dragging this little boy's body away. A Mutt Hunter and his daughter. A Mutt Hunter is someone who goes out into the woods, and takes care of any mutts that are populating and threaten to overrun the District. I still to this day had no idea why his daughter was with him. Maybe he was teaching her his trade.

I tackled the Mutt Hunter to the ground, and soon overpowered him. It was a fairly short fight, and it would have been shorter if that stupid girl wouldn't have interfered. She hit me upside the head with a branch, and nearly knocked me out.

I eventually killed her father. No torturing, just a stab through the heart. I then tackled that stupid girl to the ground, and slashed my knife straight across her pretty face. Her screams were so delightful. However, it didn't last long. I heard more people coming, and I had to get out of there as soon as possible. I hit the girl so hard upside the head I heard her skull crack, and I dragged her father and the little boy away as quickly as possible. I made it away by the skin of my teeth, and shrunk her father's head. I tortured the little boy to death, and shrunk his head as well.

That girl was the one that got away. I still thought about hunting her down. Going into the District and trying to lure her out. However, I don't even know her name. Plus, I hadn't seen her since then, but I never heard any reports made against me. Part of me wondered if she even remembers me, or if she simply forgot everything because of how hard I hit her.

Suddenly, I remembered it was Reaping Day, and it started _very_ soon. I put my treasures back, and ran out of my hole/cavern. I ran all the way back to the path beside the forest, and sprinted down it. I showed the guys at the gate my idea, and they let me in without questions. Everyone thought I just worked overtime in the woods. They had no idea what I was actually doing.

I was quite the actor at times. I mean, people knew there was something screwed up about me, but no one seemed to suspect I was a murderer. As soon as I got to the town square, I signed in. I knew I was late, and not presentably dressed, but it would have to do.

The Mayor was just wrapping up his speech when I slipped into my section. My eyes searched the crowd until I spotted my parents standing on the outskirts. They both seemed stressed, most likely because they didn't know I was here.

Well, they certainly would know I made it once I volunteered.

I examined my two future mentors. The only two living victors from District Seven were Streak and Beth. Streak won the 224th Hunger Games by jumping out of trees, on top of his victims, and killing them before they got the chance to fight back. It was quiet clever, but it made his games 'boring' in the Capital's eyes. Beth was older, and I don't remember her games, but I've heard she won them more my style. She went around, and just destroyed any tribute she ever saw. She is pretty much our District psycho. Well, at least she will be until I win.

Michael took the stage, and he looked about ready to fall asleep. I rolled my eyes. How hard of a job was it to take two names out of a glass ball? Seriously, do your job right or don't do it at all. He introduced himself for the hundredth time, and dug around in the girl's ball.

"Jacqueline Holdaine!"

My eyes search for my District Partner, and I spot movement in the eighteen year old girl section. Her brown hair flows behind her down her shoulders. She has a confident step in her stride. She makes it to the stage and turns around. Her light blue eyes have tears shimmering in them, and I let out a loud, long laugh. Everyone just stares at me, but they don't understand this hilarious irony.

A giant scar runs down Jacqueline's face. One single mark that is long, disgusting, and putrid.

Jacqueline is the girl that got away. The girl in the forest who I never ended up killing.

I was going to change that.

As I continued to laugh, Michael tried to regain attention. He dug around in his glass ball, and pulled out a name.

He then shouted out over my laughter, "Lucian Valcoor!"

My laughter intensified. I didn't even need to _volunteer_. This was fate, destiny! It was giving me another chance to kill this girl! It all made sense! I was shaking and coughing because of how hard I was laughing. I eventually calmed down enough to make my way to the stage with a smile on my face. Michael asked for volunteers, and none showed up of course. My eyes wandered back to my parents. Both of them had looks of horror on their faces. It wasn't horror that I was reaped, but horror at the reaction I just had. For the first time, I think they finally believe I might just be crazy.

About time they saw what was right under their upturned noses…

"May I present to you your tributes for the 226th Hunger Games!" Michael yelled.

I turned around and shook Jacqueline's hand. I entrapped her hand within mine, and stared right into her eyes. She had better watch out. She was my only kill that ever got away.

Let the hunt begin, my prey…

**Jacqueline "Jacqie" Holdaine's POV:**

I stumbled into the waiting room with tears running down my face.

What the _hell_ was going on!

This was my last year! I was supposed to finally be free from these stupid games! I wasn't supposed to be reaped! I slowly lowered myself down to the floor.

Who was going to take care of my little sister? She _needed_ me! My body convulsed with sobs.

Speaking of what the hell, _what the hell was wrong_ with my District Partner! Who laughs like that when someone was reaped? How much disrespect could you show to one human being? Everyone knew about him, though. Lucian, the rich snob who spent all his time out in the woods. Rumors flew around just like the birds in the sky. I've heard people say he's a cannibal, or that he makes sacrifices to the devil. I personally just think he's mentally unstable, and just can't socialize with people very well. Why else would he laugh like that during the reaping?

Stature wise, Lucian reminds me a bit of last year's tribute Link. Link was tall, strong, and not very social. Both of them had a good chance in these games, plus they both had brown hair and brown eyes. The only difference is Lucian is fairly pale, while Link was much darker.

I'm nothing like Bree from last year. Bree was a cheery ray of sunshine that seemed to always have an optimistic answer for everything. I'm a pessimist, to put it lightly. I have next to no humor, and I tend to have this 'intensity' about me. I'm always focused, and I just don't waste time cracking jokes all the time. Nor do I usually waste time on emotions and actions such as _crying_. However, I think I can allow myself this luxury of tears just this once.

Marybeth is the first person to come and say goodbye to me. She sees me on the floor crying, and immediately comes and sits next to me. Marybeth is the thing that keeps me living. Without her, I think I would have lost all my sanity last year.

Last year, my entire world fell apart. My father was a muttation hunter. If any muttation overpopulated in the forests, he would hunt them down and either kill them or capture them and relocate them. I was training to take over his trade, which meant I followed him on most of his assignments since I was fifteen. This time, however, everything went wrong.

I don't remember anything. Sometimes, I feel like I am about to have a breakthrough. Other times, I even get flashes of memory. As of now, I remember being tackled to the ground by something, and I remember something raking a claw across my face. Still, that's it. All I really remember is one moment we are hunting a muttation down, and the next I'm in the hospital.

My friend, Cress, and his father apparently found me in the forest. My father's body was nowhere in sight, but they did say they saw a trail of blood leading away from the scene. It's assumed the muttation took my father's body back to its lair to… eat. Before this event, my life was perfect. I had plenty of friends, plenty of opportunities for success, and next to no chance of ever entering the Hunger Games.

Sadly, my story only gets worse from there. I think between the scar running down my face, and my father being dead, my mother just lost it. One day she was at home as usual, and the next she was gone. I have no idea if she went crazy and just ran away, or maybe she found a new man and left her old life behind. Again, no clue. The only thing was a note telling us to go stay with our family friend the Hendersons.

"Promise you'll come home," Marybeth whispered.

"I won't make a promise I can't keep," I murmured.

"Then this should be no problem," Marybeth practically hissed.

I looked over at her, and I saw anger in her eyes. "Marybeth…" I muttered.

"No, Jacqie, it's my turn to talk. I lost mom and dad last year, just like you! I'm about to lose my only sister, and you can't even give me some sort of hope you may be coming home!"

"Hey, just listen." I argued.

"No, I won't! I believe in you, and so do a lot of people who know you. All of us believe you actually have a chance; you can't look past your grief for two seconds to see that you might actually be worth fighting to live! So get up, stop crying, and get ready to go into the Hunger Games and win!"

I stood up shakily, and hugged Marybeth again. Perhaps I did need a bit of a reality check. Right when the Peacekeepers opened the door, Marybeth took off her necklace and handed it to me. My token. It had an M and a J carved into it.

"Promise me you'll come home!" she yelled as she was escorted out.

"I promise!" I yelled back.

As soon as she left, Cress came back in. I latched on to him immediately, knowing I wouldn't get much time with him since I spent most of it with Marybeth.

"Now you need to promise me you'll take care of Marybeth! I love the Hendersons, but I don't trust anyone else raising her but you and her family!"

"Okay, I will…" Cress whispered as he hugged me back fiercely. We continued to hug, and far too soon he was taken away. Anna, my best friend, was the next to enter. We pretty much cried the entire time, and when she was escorted away I was wiping tears from my face angrily. These were the people I was fighting for. Marybeth was right, I couldn't give up.

The Hendersons came and visited me. I said goodbye to each one of them, and soon they were led away as well. Immediately after them, the Peacekeepers came in and ushered me away from my room. They took me out of the Justice Building, and led me towards a car that would be taking me to the train station. I glanced over at Lucian, who was waving and smiling at all the flashing cameras. He looked over at me, and his grin turned into one that reminded me of a hungry mountain lion. I shivered, but glared right back at him. Not even _he_ was going to stand in my way of coming home. If anyone crossed my path in the arena, I swear it will be their blood splattered across the floor, and certainly _not_ mine!

**Review! I hope you enjoy these tributes! Thank you BTRfanMegan and Petemidnight13 for these amazing tributes! I would like to apologize to both of you really quickly though. I hope Pete that you don't mind how I added that entire history to him when you specifically said he had no sob story besides him breaking his arm when he was five XD and Megan, I'm super sorry I changed her history happening to her last year instead of it happening when she was younger. It just worked better, and I really wanted to intertwine these two tributes in a very **_**interesting**_** way.**

**So anyways, review! I am really excited to hear what you guys think of this since I absolutely (and I don't say this often) love what I did with how I intertwined them and the future drama that will stem from it :D**

**Also, happy Thanksgiving! **


	11. District Eight Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Eight:**

**Asita Chaya's POV:**

I opened my eyes, and realized the sun was just peaking through the blinds. I steadily rose myself out of bed, and quickly scampered to the nearby bathroom. I snatched my outfit from the previous day off the floor, and quietly shut the bathroom door behind me.

I slipped into my pale green dress, and next slipped my favorite black cotton jacket over the top. I thrust my feet into my boots, and I walk over to the bathroom mirror.

"Damn it, where is my makeup," I muttered to myself. Eventually, I found it underneath all of his toiletries, and I quickly reapplied the makeup that had been smudged from last night. I felt a tear staring to brim in my right eye, and I quickly wiped it away.

I was the whore of District Eight.

Almost every single person in this District knew who I was. Every District had their prostitutes. Some were more experienced than others. Heck, there were prostitutes that had been doing this for decades, while I had only been doing this for a couple years.

However, there were several things that set me apart from the other prostitutes of _this_ District. I used to be malnourished, but ever since I started this gig I had gotten enough food to keep a lean figure, but not a figure that made me look like a refugee. Two, the one promise I made to any buyer was that I would be anything he wanted.

Some nights, I was the aggressive temptress. Other nights, I was the meek little girl. Exotic dancer, good girl gone bad, and even pretending to be _certain_ people, I had done it all. All it took was the right cosmetics, outfits and wigs that I had either made or found in dumpsters, and a good job of acting.

Three, I was beautiful. I wasn't going to stand here and say that I was the most beautiful girl in the District, because I wasn't, but I was the most different. Most pretty girls in this District were like porcelain dolls. They had pale skin, brittle light hair, and hollow expressions. I had fairly dark skin, extremely dark, thick hair, and I was full of life. Well, at least that's how I acted.

I stepped out of the bathroom, and looked at the sleeping figure. My customer last night was actually one of my more good looking customers. You see, most of my customers were extremely old, ugly, or creepy. Otherwise, why would you have to hire a prostitute?

However, this one was only middle aged, and was fairly good looking. You probably are wondering why he would hire me for my services then. In fact, I was startled myself the first time.

And by the first time, I mean he was my first customer ever. When I was fourteen, my father was killed. To this day I don't know why, but he broke some law involving the Peacekeepers. Maybe he was a rebel in disguise, or perhaps he just got drunk one night and insulted a Peacekeeper. The point is, they killed him, which left me to fend for my younger siblings. My mother… well, she died when she gave birth to my youngest sibling. I remember a lot of things about her, but I tend to block her and my father from my mind whenever possible. When bad things happen to me, I just block out the bad memories, and move on with my life.

Anyways, I begged for money for a little bit over a year. My other brother who was twelve at the time when I was fourteen watched the other children and did odd jobs for money. We were determined not to go to a community home. They would have separated us as soon as we got there, and we would rather be _dead_ than be away from each other. I was taught to stick with your family until the end, since at the end that's all you have.

Long story short, we almost starved to death. Until Mr. Right here picked me out. He was drunk and offered me a handful of money to 'do the deed'. Under normal circumstances, I would have said hell no and slapped him across the face. However, my starving sibling popped into my mind, and I practically tackled him to the ground right there and then.

At first, I hated it. I absolutely abhorred every touch. Every kiss was disgusting. Then, over the weeks, I started to like it. After a few months, I even began to love it. In fact, I still love it. Sex is fun. Sure, sometimes the guys are ugly and smell bad, but then other times you get some pretty decently good looking customers and you learn to enjoy yourself.

Don't _you_ start judging me too. Would you rather me say 'woe is me, my life sucks! I have no choice but to sleep with men to feed my siblings!' Well, too bad, because that's not the case. I adapted to survive, because that's what I am. I'm a _survivor_.

Anyways, I strayed from the topic of my story quite a bit. The reason Mr. Right here chose me was because I looked like his dead wife. She apparently died two years ago in some tragic accident. Long story short, he pretends I'm her when we're in bed. I personally don't mind. The only awkward part for me is when he screams out 'Marissa'. My name is Asita, idiot, learn to get it right eventually.

I heard him let out a low growl, and he sat right up in bed. I stood casually against the door frame, and ran my eyes up and down his chest.

"Sleep well?" I asked innocently.

"What do you think," he grumbled.

"I think I tired you out quite a bit. It's Reaping Day, remember? You have to get to the town square early." I laughed.

He let out a low groan, and walked over to his dresser. I rolled my eyes, and threw the proper clothes at him. He was so stupid when he was tired.

"You have to be in uniform, Mr. Peacekeeper," I mocked.

"Are you ever going to call me by my proper name, instead of Mr. Something?" he complained.

I walked up behind him and put my lips close to his ear. "Maybe you'll just have to enforce it by pounding it into me," I whispered seductively.

I felt a shiver run through his body, and I let out a quiet giggle. Suddenly, my flirty, outgoing demeanor left my features. "In all seriousness, I need to go as well and help my siblings. Where's my money?"

"Over on the kitchen table," he yawned.

I walked over to the table, and picked up the money. I counted, and realized that there was more than he usually paid me. Well, I certainly wasn't going to question it. This was enough to not only feed us for a week, but also get some new material to make clothes for my siblings and I. I swear, Peacekeepers have more money than they know how to spend if they give bonuses to struggling prostitutes.

"See you later, Mr. Moneybags," I yelled as I walked out the door.

I heard him let out a growl of argument right when I slammed the door shut. At first, I tried to stay in the shadows as I walked home, but soon I could hear everyone's whispers.

"Looks like she screwed another one…"

"I bet she screwed your father, Max…"

"What a slut…"

I rolled my eyes, and let a frown grace my face. The sad thing was that half of the people that insulted me had been my customers at one point in the past few years. Finally, I decided I wasn't hiding from anyone, and I walked right into the middle of the stone path. I swayed my hips extra hard, and made sure to wave at everyone. I wasn't going to let ignorant _pigs_ like them bring me down.

I finally made it home in one piece, and I tip toed in. As soon as I saw everyone was up and almost ready, I stopped trying to sneak about and walked right up to my younger brother, Aaron.

He was fifteen years old, and he tried to be the man of the household. He actually had a 'presentable' job at one of the factories, and he was fairly well liked. Plus, he also had grown into quite the looker. He didn't approve of my 'job', but it was what got most of the food on the table. His income would only be able to feed two of us _maybe _if that was our only source of money.

"Did everyone already eat?" I asked.

"Yeah, we were just waiting for you. Do you need some food?" Aaron asked.

"No, I'm not hungry anyways," I lied. Of course I was hungry, but to was better if I only ate twice a day. It was less money spent on food, and it kept me thinner. "Just let me go change."

I quickly walked into the bathroom, and started going through my piles of clothes. We lived in a one bedroom, two bathroom shack. Aaron and my brother tended to sleep in the bath tubs, which we never used since we didn't have enough money to buy running water, and my little sister slept on the couch. When I did sleep at home, which was rarely, I just shared the couch with her.

I finally settled on a longer green dress, and I slipped into it. It was one of my finer dresses, but it still had a slit in it on the right side that went up to my mid thigh. I decided to not wear my jacket or boots, and just stick with the dress and heels.

I stepped out of the bathroom, and made sure each of my siblings were dressed correctly. My other brother, Brock, was twelve and extremely energetic. This was his first reaping, and I even managed to find a fairly new tie in a second shop for him to wear. It wasn't straight, of course, and I quickly fixed that before moving on to my five year old sister, Daisy.

She was the mistake. I loved her dearly, but still she is what killed mom technically. I didn't blame her, but sometimes it felt like Aaron did. I picked up Daisy, and quickly fixed the bow on the back of her red dress. I grabbed the keys, and ushered everyone out the door. I locked it up tight, and we made our way towards the town square. This time, people were quieter with what they said about me. Whenever my brother was around, people stopped gossiping for two reasons. One, a good handful of people genuinely liked him. Two, let's just say anytime he heard someone disrespect me, they went home with a broken something.

We made it to the town square in record time, and we quickly signed in. I took out a few tesserae, but not enough that it would affect the tide of the reaping. Some kids took out five times as much as I did every year! They would surely get picked over me. Plus, I just couldn't get reaped. If I was gone… I just couldn't imagine what would happen to my siblings…

My brothers stepped into their sections, and I carried Daisy in with me to the seventeen year old section. I had no friends to hold her while I waited. I just held her, and tried to get her to stop babbling and drawing attention to us. The snickered and laughed at me, but I just ignored them. They could just go burn in hell for all I cared.

I looked over at this year's mentors. Last year, our only living victor, Raylin, went completely crazy. He poured gasoline everywhere, and lit everything on fire while throwing some sort of homemade bombs. He was screaming that he was saving us all from the Hunger Games. I just remember running away from him desperately trying to find Brock and Daisy, while hoping Aaron had made it away.

He was shot down by the Peacekeepers, and was replaced with victors from District Two. This year, our mentors were going to be two people from District One. I remembered seeing the woman, Agatha, on television quite a bit. She had been mentoring for decades, which was a good sign for our tributes this year. The male mentor was named Clinton, and he was extremely attractive. Even though I knew he must be at least in his thirties, I couldn't help but think he was my age. Dang, some people were just not affected by time.

Last year's escort also died in the fire, and she was replaced with the old District Ten escort, Muffy. Muffy was extremely… bubbly. She was wearing a short red dress that was to die for, and her blonde hair looked completely natural. Unlike most escorts, she didn't seem to change herself that much. She was naturally pretty, and she knew how to work it. Why change something when you know it already works?

"I am so excited to be a part of this District this year! You don't know how pleased I am to get to work with whoever these lovely tributes will be! Time to start with the ladies!" Muffy smiled.

She dug around in her Reaping ball, and I saw her grasp the life of one unsuspecting girl.

"Asita Chaya!"

That unsuspecting girl was me.

I felt my face turn into a mask of complete and utter astonishment. I had about two seconds before the cameras locked on to me. I quickly looked around for some place to put Daisy. I saw Brock fighting his way through the fifteen year olds, and he raced through the sixteen year olds. I quickly handed Daisy over to him as I heard Muffy yell out my name for the third time.

However, Daisy refused to let go of the neckline of my dress. "Don't go Sissy! Don't go!" Daisy cried out.

"I don't get a choice, dear," I whispered as I thought about what they were going to do without me. I just prayed they wouldn't starve… Perhaps they should go to a community home…

Finally, Daisy let go, and I wiped a tear that was beginning to trickle down my face. I spread a fake smile across my face, and began walking towards the stage. The game started now. Not on the train, and certainly not during the Chariot Rides. No, it started the second your name was called out.

I had to make an impression, and the impression I was going to make was confident. Confident tributes got sponsors. Beautiful tributes got sponsors. Confident, beautiful tributes got plenty of sponsors.

"Right here, Muffy!" I yelled out as I sashayed to the stage. I could hear the mixture of reactions from the crowd. Some were obviously happy to see me go. Others seemed to be affected by my goodbye with my little sister. Whatever the case, they didn't matter anymore. The Capital was my prime audience.

Muffy asked for volunteers, and of course there were none. I shifted my stance so that my right leg popped fully out of the slit, exposing my long, tan, lean leg. I batted my dark brown eyes at the camera, and kept my confident smile across my face. Last year, there were two pretty tributes that didn't use it right. Rouge, the victor, didn't use hers at all, and only gained sponsors because she was beautiful. However, she didn't gain any alliances from it, nor did she use it to enchant the Capital. Olivia wasn't the most pretty, but she overused hers. She acted like a complete slut, and threw herself at every guy. I was going to be the perfect mixture of both of them. I was going to use my attitude and my looks to gain sponsors, while also using it to gain an ally. A male ally.

Simply put, I would find the strongest, most reliable male tribute, and make him fall in love with me. Or, at least offer my body in exchange for protection. I knew this would be far more complex than just being a prostitute. Their lives were on the line, just like mine. However, I had to make it work. I wasn't strong, and I didn't know how to fight. My body and acting were my only weapons. I glanced over at Clinton. Perhaps this would be easier to do than I thought. It may be hard to get a tribute to fall in love with me, but how hard could it be to get someone of higher position to fall in love with me?

I put the idea in my brain for later as I watched Muffy pull out the boy's name.

"Lyric Kane!"

You have got to be kidding me. Well, he certainly wouldn't be the tribute I would make fall in love with me.

He made his way through the seventeen year old boy section, and I saw his light blonde hair bob through the crowd. Girls weren't the only people that looked like porcelain dolls in this District. Lyric Kane was the grandson of the man that ran most of the factories in this District. He has blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes that make him look _just_ like a fragile doll. I've never really heard him talk, and he seems extremely naïve for his age. Maybe he would be fun to play with, but he certainly wouldn't be able to protect me in the arena. Unless I used his as a human shield, but then he would only have a onetime use.

When Muffy asks for volunteers, no one does. Shocker. We shake hands, and it looks like he just stares right through me. As we walk to the Justice Building, I feel my face begin to set itself into a determined scowl. I needed to get home. My family was depending on me, and no way was I going to let them down. I never had let them down, and I wasn't going to start now. Soon, the whore of District Eight was going to become the _only_ victor of District Eight.

**Lyric Kane's POV:**

I stumble into the waiting room in a daze. I'm beyond screwed. I thought… I thought I would be safe. I never took out a piece of tesserae in my life. I never did anything to even remotely upset the Capital. All I ever did was sit at home, do homework, and spend time with my family. All I ever did was act like a good boy, and follow all the rules. Apparently that wasn't enough. Apparently, I still deserve to be sent into the Hunger Games.

I felt tears begin to roll down my cheeks. I was kind of smart. That was my only talent. I wasn't strong, I couldn't fight, and I certainly couldn't run to save me life, literally. How far could an above average intelligence get me in a game of skills?

Well, I guess I also had a logical business sort of mind. My grandfather owned practically all of the factories in this district. Even though I found it quite boring, my grandfather spent some time teaching me about business and people within business. How to find and deal with possible thieves, how to treat those that are working harder than others, and how to make people feel important and strong even if they are not.

Sadly, I never inherited my grandfather's cutthroat personality. That kind of personality would have definitely helped me in the Hunger Games, but I was more influenced by my father and mother who are extremely kinder than my grandfather. Morally, that was a great thing. However, it wasn't going to keep me alive for much longer.

Well, District Eight wouldn't be having a victor this year. Everyone knows Asita Chaya. She may be charming, but that's it. She is all talk, and no game. Now, if this were a contest where you charmed the pants off of people, she would win hands down. But this is the Hunger Games, where you have to kill. I doubt she could actually kill someone even if she wanted to.

Last year's tributes had a way better chance than we did. Both Jute and Azalea seemed like potential contenders, plus they were in love which meant they had each other's backs until the end. Sadly, the end was fairly soon and Azalea was killed in the bloodbath. It sent poor Jute slowly crazy, and after seeing about three or four of his allies die, he finally went off the deep end. Let's just say it didn't end well for him.

I was jolted out of my depressing thoughts by my family pouring in. My mom was already in tears as she ran up to me and surrounded me in a huge hug. I hugged her back as hard as I could, and I felt my tears beginning to run down my face again.

"I wish… I wish there was something I could do to help you," she sobbed.

My father was silent, and he rubbed my back as my mother and I embraced. My father may seem intimidating, but he really is one of the nicest people you'd ever meet. However, I didn't expect him to be the stable one in this moment. I expected him and my mother's demeanors to be switched before they entered.

"I never expected this to happen…" my father whispered.

My cries became louder as I choked out, "Don't you have some kind of advice? Anything?"

Silence was my answer, so I decided to ask another question. "Aren't you going to tell me everything will be okay! That I'll be back before you know it!"

Again, silence was my answer. It hit me harder than anything ever had that both of my parents _didn't_ expect me to come home. They fully expected my death, and they weren't even going to try and believe that I could win.

"Why can't you just… tell me that I can do this?" I whispered.

I could feel the hurt spread across my face as my mother whispered. "Because I don't want to lie to you…"

Even more pain rocketed through my body before I pointed to the door. "Get out."

"Wh-a-at?" My mother asked.

"I said, _get out_." I hissed.

"Lyric…" my father murmured.

"_Get out now,_" I yelled. The Peacekeepers stormed in and carried out my orders. They escorted my parents out and the entire time I glared at them. If my own parents couldn't believe that I might come home, how could I? As soon as the door shut, I fell to the floor. My grandfather's voice resounded in my skull _You're nothing but a failure, Lyric. If you can't even get up off your sorry butt and act strong, then there is no way you can make it away from the Bloodbath in one piece._

I shakily stood up, and looked in one of the mirrors. What I saw I was disgusted with. A weak, sniveling child was staring at me. I grabbed the mirror, yanked it off the wall, and threw it across the room. I would be strong! I was going to win this! As soon as the Peacekeepers heard the crash, they stormed back in.

I grabbed another mirror, and tossed it across the room. I didn't care what anyone thought! I was going to win these games no matter what! I was going to show all of them that even if you are the weakest tribute alive, with the right spirit you can win! I smashed another mirror, and right when I was about to grab another one, one of the Peacekeepers slammed his riot stick against the back of my head. The world slowly began turning black before I collapsed in the shattered glass. I would win… _I didn't want to die…_

**Review! Oh my gosh, I adore both of these tributes, no joke! Thank you so much owlchicka and OhSoVeryLovely for submitting these amazing tributes! Seriously, I had a ball writing them! Some tributes I don't even have to give life, because they just have a life of their own and both of these are those kind :D**


	12. District Nine Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Nine:**

**Hawk Nightwind's POV:**

District Nine. The home of the ruffians.

I let out a deep sigh, and just stared at the rising sun. District Nine was filled with many hardships. Everyone had their secrets. Everyone had their struggles.

Yet, we were made stronger because of it. When you were broken in this District, you didn't give up. You learned from it, and became stronger. District Nine was one of the Non-Career Districts filled with victors, because everyone who went into the Hunger Games had a unique skill. Well, almost everyone.

Mine was stealing.

My entire life, I had been surrounded by pick pockets and thieves. My form of survival was stealing from those that had more than me. Others form was joining a gang and taking things by force from others. Some people's form was selling their bodies to the rich for money. Others sold things at the illegal markets. Everyone in this district had a different way to survive, but all of us did. Very few just gave up and died in this district. If you died, then you died fighting.

We weren't like District Twelve, whose hardships made them weaker. We weren't like District Eight, who had very few hardships and most tributes never had to fight to live. No, we were our own district.

Suddenly, I shook myself out of my deep thoughts, and climbed off my roof and back into my room through the window. I quickly mulled over to the mirror, and ran my fingers through my messy dark brown hair. Well, there was no way to make _that_ look better before the Reapings. I walked over to my dresser, and pulled out my usual reaping outfit. Just a simple white button up shirt and black slacks. I slid into them, and walked out of my bedroom. I tip toed down the staircase, and glanced around. No one was up.

Good.

I slid out the front door, and started jogging towards the marketplace. I used to love stealing and fighting. In fact, I still do, but recently I had been rethinking my morals. I wanted a normal, happy life, and being a thief didn't exactly mesh well with 'normal'. Still, I did what was necessary to survive.

I made my way quietly into the market. Most people were just starting to open up shop, which meant it was the perfect time to steal some things. They would be so busy getting things out of crates and boxes that they wouldn't pay attention to what happened to things they had already taken out!

I quickly ducked under one of the stands as I saw one of the merchants walk towards me. They all knew who I was by now. I was caught one time, and now all of them were always on the lookout for me, along with all the other thieves.

Once he had walked past, I scurried out of my hiding place and walked over to Brutus' meat stand. I could see him looking through his boxes for something, and I glided right by and grabbed a few slabs of meat. I stuffed them into a plastic bag he had lying around, and kept on skating by. I continued to take things from stands when no one was looking.

When I was done, I had a few slabs of meat, a handful of nuts, a few apples, and at least three spools of thread. I was about to leave when the flower stand caught my eye. I snatched five flowers from it, and scurried away.

Suddenly, I heard the woman who ran that stand let out a scream. I immediately picked up the pace, and sprinted away. I was long gone by the time everyone had come over to her stand to see what was wrong. I continued to sprint towards home. I was one of the fastest kids at school. Everyone knew I was faster because of all our foot races, but sadly I didn't have enough money to join the track team. Sports were only played by the richest people in the District.

Running was my absolute favorite thing to do. Whenever I ran, it was just like all my troubles were left behind.

Sadly, when I stopped, they always caught back up to me.

I slipped into my house, and placed everything in the kitchen. Right when I finished, I heard a sigh from one of the entrances to the kitchen. I turned around to see my mother shaking her head. Of course, she didn't reprimand me, and she just walked over and began preparing the meat for breakfast.

My mother had quite the complicated history. When she left high school, her form of survival was selling her body. She had my, now deceased, grandmother to take care of along with her sister. She got pregnant, and soon couldn't work anymore. She was almost on the brink of starvation when my father found her. He let her and the rest of her family stay in his house, which he didn't use that much anyway. He was, and still is, part of a gang of thieves. He usually slept at their base, but now days he stayed here at the house.

My mother had my older sister, well half sister, and stopped being a prostitute. She got a job as a cleaning lady for all the victors, and later she fell in love with my dad. The rest is history. Between her job, my father's stealing endeavors, and whatever I manage to get my hands on, we have a pretty good life. Nothing bad has ever really happened.

My older sister walked down the stairs, already dressed, with my younger sister in tow. My older sister had blonde hair, which not even my mother had, and was fairly pretty. She was hoping to become a cleaning lady for the victor's just like my mother was, but I had a feeling it wouldn't work out.

My little sister was absolutely my most favorite person in the world. She had the best sense of humor, and she just enjoyed life. You didn't find people like that around anymore. She was simply a light in a world of darkness.

All of us made small talk while we waited for breakfast. Everyone was nervous about reaping day. It was my little sisters first year and my older sisters last year. We were just waiting for something to go terribly wrong and one of us being reaped.

My father walked out, and grabbed some breakfast as well. Once he was done, we walked to the town square. Again, it was an extremely quiet walk while all of us just thought about everything that could go wrong. Once we signed in, all of us exchanged hugs. We were an extremely close family, and if anything happened to one of us, then it happened to all of us.

I walked into the sixteen year old section, and stared at the two mentors for this year. I almost let out a small laugh. I pitied the female tribute this year, because her mentor would be Lorie. Lorie was… to put it simply, a bitch. Seriously, I had met her several times, and every time she would say something snappy and cruel. For an example, last week when my mom was cleaning her house she called her a brainless invertebrate. What kind of person says things like that? Oh wait, Lorie does, if you count her as a person.

The other mentor was cooler. Who was in his fifties, and everyone called him Pop. I don't really know why they call him Pop, but I've always assumed it had to do with his father-like personality and demeanor. Suddenly, our Mayor started his speech and I completely zoned out. I've heard it so many times, and they never changed it.

Our escort walked onto the stage, and shot a smile to the audience. I heard girls sigh, and I just rolled my eyes. He was the escort that was considered the 'hottest' by all the girls. I had to admit; he had a perfect face, but was it even _real_?

He slowly eased his hand into the girl's reaping ball, and drew out a name.

"Kairi Renn!"

I heard someone let out a scream, and suddenly everyone went silent.

Shit.

My eyes immediately found the thirteen year old girls section. I didn't know Kairi very well, but my little sister was friends with her. Kairi was a very… special girl. I didn't know the details, but my little sister told when bad things happened, Kairi went a little spacey. Let's just say she went more than a little 'spacey'. Right now, I could see her flailing about, letting out horrid moans and screams.

Suddenly, her older sister was next to her, and leading her towards the stage. Kairi was fighting against her, but she had this glassy look in her eyes. She had no idea what was going on… None at all. Her older sister held her upright as the escort asked for volunteers, and no one did. In this District, no one ever volunteered. This District was cutthroat, no matter the case or person.

Kairi continued to let out moans, and would randomly flail about, but our escort commanded all the attention away from her when he drew out the boy's name.

"Hawk Nightwind!"

I felt my entire body lock into place.

This couldn't be happening! No… not me…

I took a deep breath, and put one foot in front of the other. I just focused on one step at a time until I got onto the stage. I made sure my face was clear of any emotion, and I just shut down all thoughts. If I thought of anything unrelated to not crying, it would happen. I just knew it.

In a flash, it was over and I shook Kairi's hand. She seemed to be more like herself, but she still had an odd expression plastered among her face. An expression that would forever be burned into my brain. An expression that said 'I was going to die… and so are you…'

**Kairi Renn's POV:**

I marched into the Justice Building with a calm expression fixed on my face. I practically sprinted to my waiting room, and steadied myself against the closed door.

One moment I heard my name called out, and the next I was heading into the Justice Building… That could only mean I was reaped…

I was going into the Hunger Games…

I tried desperately to calm my thought process down. I couldn't get stressed… I couldn't get upset… I needed to stay strong… I couldn't….

Suddenly, my mom, my older sister, and my younger brother walked in. I immediately fell into Bluejay's embrace, and started crying.

"What happened…?" I whispered.

"You fell into a relapse again… but I got you to the stage in one piece…" she murmured.

I hugged her tighter, and just shook my head. I had… some problems. The doctor's didn't really know what my problem was, but they knew it was hereditary since my little brother had it as well. When I was born, I just couldn't _learn_. The doctors told my parents that I would have the mind of a toddler for the rest of my life… that I would never 'grow up'. Then, one day, something happened. I have no recollection of it, but long story short I hit my head pretty hard on something. Somehow, this fixed something. I began to learn, and soon I was 'normal' again. Well, except for the relapses.

Whenever I get stressed, upset, or just plain angry, I sometimes relapse. It might only be for a few minutes… or it could be for a few days. We never know… and I never remember anything that happened while I'm out of it, but apparently I thrash around and make incoherent noises.

"It will be okay, Kairi, we'll figure something out!" Bluejay whispered furiously.

"No, it won't be okay! Plus, I'm the one going to the Capital! I'm the one being sent into the… uh… arena for no good reason! I have to figure something out, and you know how great I am at that!" I snapped back.

"We could get Jem or Tally to sponsor you! They have money!" Bluejay suggested.

I rolled my eyes, and just shook my head. For one thing, Tally had no money. She just had some weird scholarship. She was selected because of her grades to go to some high tech school in the Capital. And, the best part for her, was that was exempt from Reapings because she was needed for "the future of the Capital." As for Jem, he was the Diplomat for the Capital to District Five. He may make a lot of money, but there was no way he would waste it on someone he was going to assume that would die in the bloodbath. It was a good assumption anyways…

"Be realistic, Bluejay. It's sad that the crazy girl has to tell you that." I joked.

August came up to me and patted my shoulder. I looked over at him, and he let out some sort of gurgle. I sighed, and hugged him. He had no idea what was going on, but he seemed to pick up on the solemn ambience.

My mother came up and hugged me as well.

"Say goodbye to Tally and Jem for me," I whispered.

"Do you want me to say goodbye to your father too," my mom murmured.

"No, I'll be seeing him in a week or so anyways," I laughed.

My mom glared at me, but I just shrugged. Soon, they were escorted out, and the next visitor was immediately ushered in. The ambience in the room got twenty times more sorrowful when Corrine stumbled in. As soon as we laid eyes on each other, we burst into tears and hugged one another.

Corrine had always been there for me. Since the day I can remember, she was always there for me. I met her after I became 'normal' and she never left my side. She was my rock… my best friend, and now I had to face this without her aid. I had to face something we both knew I wasn't going to come back from. No one thirteen years old or under had ever won the Hunger Games. The youngest age anyone had ever won was fourteen. In 225 years, not a single thirteen year old won. Why would I be the exception?

"Promise you'll never forget me…" I sobbed.

"I promise…" Corinne cried back.

We continued our crying until the guards ripped her from my grasp. She was gone in seconds, and I felt so alone and broken.

The next visitor came in, and my tears of mourning immediately changed into tears of hate.

"Get out of here… now!" I hissed.

"Kairi…" Libby whispered.

"You think you can mess with my brain and heart, and then just waltz in here like you're such a saint for seeing the whacko girl off!" I yelled.

"It's not like that, Kairi…" Libby screamed.

"Get out before I make you get out!" I yelled.

"Just listen to m-" she started.

Then she let out a howl of pain when I slapped her across the face. She looked at me in shock as she held both her hands to where I slapped her.

"I said, get out…" I whispered furiously, "You messed with me once, and I am not going to let it happen again right before I leave to go die… So just leave!"

Apparently, she didn't have to be hit twice. She ran from the room, and the door slammed behind her. I sighed, and just put my face into my hands. I then weaved my fingers through my tangled brown hair, and threw myself a little pity party. District Nine usually had a fighting chance for victory. Last year, both the tributes were amazingly good. Alix, the female tribute, made it into the Careers, and would have won if it wasn't for the fact she was betrayed by her 'best friend'. Vijay was definitely a fighter, but he was just one step behind in his battle with the male tribute from District Twelve.

The Peacekeepers stormed in, and suddenly an idea sparked in my head. Everyone in Panem was, or had, seen that Reaping. Everyone thought I was some sort of mental patient. Why not use that to my advantage. Even if I acted normal now, no one would want to ally with a thirteen year old girl who could potentially relapse for days.

If I wanted to survive the bloodbath, why not play the mental patient everyone thought I was.

I flopped myself onto the floor, and started screaming. I made the noises I had heard August make when he was upset, and just started thrashing about. I rammed my arm as hard as I could into a vase, effectively shattering it. The Peacekeeper's picked me up, and started dragging me towards the train. Once we were outside the Justice Building, the cameras flashed, and I just continued to thrash about. I kept my face as weird looking as possible, and I just made as many weird noises as I could. Everyone had heard of Johanna Mason, and how she had tricked everyone into thinking she was weak. That's why everyone kept their eyes on the weak tributes. Well, I was going to be a more extreme version of her. Not a single tribute would suspect me of faking a mental disorder after my performance at the Reapings. Perhaps, if I kept up this act, not only did I have a great chance of surviving the bloodbath, but of winning as well. Wouldn't the other tributes be surprised if they came up to the whacko girl to kill her, and she leapt up and stabbed a knife into their stomach…

**Thank you so much BIOTA (I am too lazy to type out your entire username) and Risoko for these amazing tributes! They were both extremely complex, and I really don't think I did them justice… I am so sorry if they stunk…**

**Anyways, please review and tell me what you think! All of you, review! **


	13. District Ten Reapings

**District Ten:**

**Reapings:**

**Charlotte Fern's POV:**

As soon as the sun rose, so did I. I rose out of bed with a yawn, and glanced around. Time to help with the ranch as usual. I quickly slipped out of bed, and put on a green tank top. I stumbled into brown khakis, and a brown leather jacket. I walked over to my floor length mirror, and tried to put my messy brown hair into some sort of bun. Of course, it wouldn't be tamed, and it ended up a mess, as usual. I decided to quickly apply some light eye shadow, and a little mascara for that 'fresh' morning look.

I continued to glare at the mirror, as if that would magically change my appearance. My boring eyes that were the color of mud just glared back at me. I wasn't exactly the prettiest flower in the fields, to put it nicely. However, I realized sometimes I could be a tad bit girly and ditzy. I don't know where that came from, but it just happened.

"That's as good as it's going to get," I sighed to myself.

I quickly clomped down the stairs, and walked straight out the door. My morning chores for Reaping Day were simple. Get the bulls and cows out of the barn, round them into the corral, and 'prepare' myself for the Reapings. Please, I was going how I was dressed right now. I didn't dress up for the Reapings, because there was no point in doing so.

I made my way to the barn, and opened the doors. I grabbed a loop of rope from the wall, and rung the bell that the cows had learned meant time to head outside. They immediately responded, and they came charging out. I tried my best to lead them towards the corral, but some of them strayed, of course.

I quickly made a lasso out of my rope, and charged towards the two stray bulls. Of started swinging it around, and threw it as hard as I could. I missed my target, but I still got the rope wrapped around one of the bull's horns. I yanked as hard as I could, and the rope shortened until it was wound tightly around the bull's horn. I pulled, and spat, but the bull was stubborn. After an hour of aggravation, yelling, and mild swearing, I finally got all the bulls and cows into the corral.

I made my way back to our house, and shuffled in. Mom was already making breakfast, and I sat down fairly ungracefully.

"Charlotte, breakfast is almost ready. Can you go get your father?" she asked politely.

"No need, I'm here," he yelled as he charged in. I shot him a smile, and said good morning.

We ate our breakfast in our normal silence. I tried to stuff it down my gullet as fast as possible, simply because I wanted to see Ashton as soon as possible.

"Please eat like a lady, Charlotte." My mother scolded.

I rolled my eyes, and quickly shoved the last bite of food in my mouth.

"Going to meet Ashton!" I yelled through my mouthful of food.

"Aren't you going to go change into that nice dress I made for you?" my mother fretted.

"No, I think I'll just wear this!" I said as I rushed out the door.

"Don't get into any trouble!" I heard my mother yell frantically.

"Jill, please. You know you can't control a free spirit." I heard my father laugh.

"I control you, don't I?" I heard my mother hiss as I slammed the door behind me.

I had an… interesting family dynamic. My mother was a complete and utter worrywart. She was constantly worrying I would get into trouble… which I did quite often but that wasn't the point! Plus, she always wanted me to 'act like a lady'. Now, did I mind acting graceful and girly? No, in fact, I loved feeling like a girl. I could appreciate music, fashion, and anything girly. Did I mind wearing dresses, having a fake smile spread across my face all the time, and making pointless small talk to people I didn't even like? Hell yes!

My father always called me his 'free spirit'. I guess I could be called that, and it was far better than what the other girls in town called me! You see, I wasn't exactly the most liked in this District. I came from a rich family, and that made some of the poorer kids dislike me. They thought I wasted my life away on riches, and was extremely ungrateful! Well, I could be ungrateful at times, but I worked hard too! I spent many hours working on the ranch daily!

Then the other wealthier kids didn't like me that much because they thought I was frivolous, immature, and silly. I don't listen to a word of it! In our District I always see those who have given up hope. They have sunken cheeks, no expressions, and, worst of all, glassy eyes. They've given up hope, and I swear I will never be like them. I will always try to be full of life, and I would rather die than become like them!

Finally, I spotted Ashton standing at one of the crossroads. I waved at him, and sprinted towards him. I pretty much tackled him, which was my version of a hug. Ashton is my best friend and partner in crime! I've known this kid forever, and I couldn't imagine my life without him! Of course, nothing romantic could ever happen between us! Not that he isn't attractive, because he is quite the looker, but it would be like dating a sibling! Would any of you seriously encourage me to commit incest! You sick, twisted people!

"How's it going, Char?" Ashton asked between laughter.

"Great, Ash! Ready to head into town and see what drama we can stir up today!" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, totally!" he replied with the same tone. You see, we may be a bit mischievous, but we never try to get into trouble. It just seems to be attracted to us, so it has kind of become one of our many inside jokes.

We both stand up, and link arms as we walk towards town. The entire way there, we make small talk while just laughing and enjoying life. We were both one of the very few optimists in this District, which is why we seemed to get along so well.

We finally made it into town, and the first people to spot us were some of the shopkeeper's children.

"Oh, just splendid," I muttered.

Now, don't get me wrong. I was a fairly non-confrontational person. I loved to have a good time and make friends. However, if you disrespected me or insulted me in any way, I had no problem bitching you out. That was me, well the part of me that tended to attract problems anyways.

"Look who it is! The Prince and the Pauper," Petunia giggled nasally. Her little gang laughed as well. They were referring to the fact that Ash definitely looked like a prince, and I always had the looks of nothing more than a commoner.

"You really should learn to keep that mouth of yours shut." I growled.

"Or what? What are you going to do to me?" Petunia sneered.

"Well, you certainly wouldn't want to end up like your friend, Dana, would you?" I asked smartly.

Immediately her face contorted into one of pure malice, and I just smiled. Dana was her best friend that died in the Hunger Games last year. Now, I didn't like death, but seriously Dana was the biggest bitch in this District! If anyone was going to die, than it should be her! The person I felt bad for was her brother. He was one of the sweetest guys I had ever met! Natalie was pretty nice too… Damn, I really wish she would have made it back. She was so close. One battle away from victory…

"Don't bring her into this!" Petunia hissed.

"Or what? What are you going to do to me?" I mocked her in the same nasally tone. I heard a few of her cohorts snicker, and Ash burst out into a full out barrage of laughter.

Petunia's face turned a bright shade of red, and she sputtered out, "Or I'll… I'll…"

"Like I said before, learn to keep your mouth _shut_."

With that, I spun on my heel, and walked away with Ash. I knew that my mom would hear about it sometime today, and I would get a lecture, but it was _so_ worth it!

"Ready to go?" Ash asked seriously.

"Go where?" I genuinely asked.

"Reapings, stupid!" Ash reprimanded.

I felt my face totally go into that 'stupid' mode look, and I just kept walking. Sometimes I thought I was really smart. Then, other times, when I couldn't even remember the reason I came into town I remembered how stupid I really was.

We made it to the town square without causing too much trouble. The only thing we did was knock over a cart full of cabbages accidently, and we made it away without a single injury.

I signed in, and made my way over to the sixteen year old section. Ash stepped into the fifteen year old section, and soon I was right in the middle of the crowd. Our escort, Muffy, had moved on to 'bigger and better things', which left us with this new girl. I had to admit, she had a wicked sense of fashion. Her dress was the perfect length, and red really went well with her artificially blue eyes. The only thing wrong with her look was her bright orange hair, but even that could be fixed with the proper red accessories in her hair…

I quickly glanced at the mentors for this year, and smiled. This year we had Wolf Reignold, and Miranda Bloodmoss. Miranda was a fairly older mentor, in her fifties at least, but I remember my father telling me how she won her games. She was one of the richer girls in the District, and had spent most her time playing the flute. Let's just say there isn't that big of a difference between the flute and a blowpipe.

Wolf was a little younger, but not by much. Everyone knows how he won his games, because he is one of the only victors who have ever won a game based on their traps. His traps were intricate, and deadly. That was his only talent, and he used it to win his games.

Suddenly, the Mayor made his speech, and was soon replaced by the overexcited escort.

"My name is Azula, and I'm your new escort! Let me just tell you a little about me!" She then went on for the next ten minutes about fashion, and her love of cows. Oh yeah I was totally going to enjoy listening to her for the next decade of my life.

"Ladies first!" Azula screeched. She dipped her hand in carefully, obviously treasuring the moment, before she greedily ripped the slip out and read it.

"Charlotte Fern!"

My first reaction is to look over at Ash. I see his eyes wide with fear, and then I shoot him my biggest smile. On the bright side, at least I wouldn't have to listen to Azula for the next decade! I then let out a small giggle, and make my way to the stage.

On the inside, I feel like crying. I feel like crying just like the weak rich girl I am. However, I decide I need to at least look happy, and the only thing that can keep me from crying is laughing. This is why I then proceed to giggle my way to the stage. Do I look like an idiot? Yes. Do I feel stupid? Of course. Is it necessary? Sadly…

I take the microphone from the escort, and giggle out, "Heeeyyy there, Panem! I bet you can't wait to see me win these games!" I lie. I think I have a chance, but it's a _very_ slim chance. However, if I believe I can win, then I very well might. I think its called karma or divine intervention. Something like that!

She asks for any volunteers, and I see Petunia raise her hand mockingly before slowly taking it down with a snicker. Sadly, Azula doesn't see and moves on to the boy's reaping.

"Davis Grayvelle!"

I hear a small screech, and everyone glances at the twelve year old section. A small, shaking twelve year old shuffles out of his section, and makes his way towards me. I see tears running down his face, and his eyes look exactly like the thing I hate the most. In his eyes, all I see is misery and hopelessness. His dirty blonde hair is sticking out at odd angles, and his grey eyes seem so innocent. This is why the Hunger Games disgust me. Taking a _child_ and putting them through this… It's just unforgiveable!

No one volunteers, and I shake Davis' hand. I do it as quickly as possible, because I couldn't stand the way his hand trembled in mine. We make our way towards the Justice Building, and my eyes begin to sting with the creation of tears. I may be a ditz… I may be a spoiled brat… and I certainly may be a 'free spirit'… But I have hope, which is a lot more than most of the other tributes have. As long as I continue to have that hope, and hold on to it for dear life, then maybe… just maybe… I can make it through this in one piece!

Right before the Justice Building closes in around me, the first depressing though I've had in ages creeps into my mind.

Of course you can make it out in one piece… Just make sure you're _strangled_ to death, not _cut_ apart into tiny little pieces by a sadistic Career…

**Davis Grayvelle's POV:**

As soon as the door shuts behind me, the tears flow down my face even faster. All my life, I had just pretended the Hunger Games didn't exist. I had a pretty large imagination, and it wasn't very difficult. I just didn't think that strategy was going to work anymore…

I feel my body beginning to shake with sobs. I can't do this! I'm _twelve_! I can't go to the Hunger Games. I can't… I can't… I can't die! It just… it just can't happen!

The door is shoved open, and I see my mommy run in. She is already in hysterics, and she finds me immediately and surrounds me in her embrace. Her entire body shields me from the outside, as if it will protect me from the dangers of the Hunger Games. Her grip on me continues to get tighter every second, and I can't help but hug her back as hard as I can.

"I'm scared…" I whisper.

"It will be alright! Mommy's here..." she murmurs between sobs.

But mommy won't be here forever. Neither will big brother Nate, or older sister Ruby, or little brother Cooper. None of them will be here forever, and soon I'll be all alone. I won't have anyone to hold me at night. Instead of Cooper having the nightmares and I comforting him, I will be having the nightmares and no one will be there for me.

Like most citizens in District Ten, I have grown up on a ranch. Sadly, ours was not one of the most successful. After daddy died, Nate had to step up and take care of the ranch. He even dropped out of school to spend all his time on the ranch.

"I won't let this family down… I promise you that…" Nate says firmly. I glance over at him and see his cold eyes trying to show as little emotion as possible. Nate, the strong one. The one who has had to grow up…

Ruby walks over behind me, and hugs me fiercely. Nine year old Cooper walks over with a confused expression on his face.

"Are you coming back, Davis?" he asked innocently.

"I don't know, Cooper…" I whispered.

"Well, take this!" Cooper smiles. I look at him through my tears, and grab the collar. It's one of the stray cat collars that Cooper always keeps with him. It has a bell on it, and he rings it at night when he is having a nightmare. I then always come and sleep with him so he feels better. "Ring it if you get scared and I'll come help you!"

His innocence is shown through his broad smile, and this gesture of love just sends me over the edge even more. I start sobbing hysterically into my mommy's shoulder, and both Ruby and my mommy begin crying harder as well.

"Let's go, Cooper… I'll explain to you what is going on in private," I hear Nate say through a constricted throat.

"Bye big brother!" I hear Cooper yell as he leaves with Nate. "See you soon!"

Once the door is shut, I continue to sob, and the entire time the small bell jingles as my body convulses. How will I be able to come back? I may spend all my time outdoors, but that is about the only strength I have! Well, I do also know some things from reading, but not enough to win!

My sobs get even louder as I hear the door open again. My mommy is ripped from my embrace, and I feel strong, cold arms being wrapped around me.

"Mommy!" I scream out irrationally.

I look to see her being dragged away, along with Ruby. Ruby is kicking and biting the Peacekeepers, while my mother just continues to sob. Soon, I am being dragged with them and for a split second I think maybe I'm going to be free. Maybe I'll be going home with them after all. That there is another Davis Grayvelle and it was all a mistake. However, once in the hallway, we are being dragged opposite directions.

"Mommy!" I scream out again. This time, mommy screams back and begins thrashing about. Suddenly, one of the Peacekeeper's takes the butt of his gun and smacks both Ruby and mommy upside the head. They both slump to the floor, and I let out another shriek. I know they are okay, but they look like they could be dead! I continue to scream and cry out, until I feel a blinding pain spread throughout my body. My entire vision is sprinkled with white, until everything turns black. Maybe this is what death feels like… Maybe I won't have to go into the Hunger Games after all… Maybe I will get to see mommy and daddy one last time… in heaven…

**Review! Haha thanks so much to Kiwirawr and Evalyn May for these amazing tributes! I hope I did them justice, and I love them both. Just a fair warning, I am sorry to everyone who has created a tribute fourteen and under. I love them, but I feel like I suck at writing that mindset. Like, I feel like I made Davis not innocent enough and used to many big words that a twelve year old wouldn't know :P so yeah, I am so sorry about that… Any who, review and tell me what you think because last chapter the amount of reviews dropped dramatically! Seriously, I thought all of you had died, and then I realized that was silly to think of XD **

**Oh, and special shout out to Bucking Reg for that review! That seriously MADE MY DAY! Seriously, I have done that same thing you said you did, but I have NEVER ever thought I could do that to someone else with my writing, so yeah you just made my day and week and yeah :D**


	14. District Eleven Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Eleven:**

**Scarlett Macrose's POV:**

I woke up with a start, hearing someone knocking on my door.

I quickly scrambled out of bed, and peered out into the hallway. I realized it must be coming from the front door, and I quickly sprinted from my bedroom to it. The knocking continued loudly until I practically yanked the rusty door off its hinges.

Standing at the door was a Peacekeeper. Her expression seemed to soften ever so slightly when she saw me, and it took every ounce of willpower not to roll my eyes. I get it; I was thirteen and had that "adorable quality" about me. There were several hundred other thirteen year olds in this District. They couldn't possibly treat every single one of them how they treated me.

"Are your parents home?" she asked softly, but with a definite commanding tone in his voice.

"I don't know, do you want me to go check?" I asked grumpily.

"That would be most helpful," she smiled.

As soon as I turned my back to her, I rolled my eyes as largely as I could. Everyone seemed to assume since I was 'cute' I was some innocent angel. To set the record straight, I wasn't cute, period. I was, in fact, quite mangy looking. However, no matter what I did to my appearance, it came off as adorable and everyone still treated me like a child.

I was not some stupid, naïve, little kid! I was practically an adult! My parents were so busy running the town's main general store that they never had time to take care of me, which left me to fend for myself. Sure, there was always food in the house, and plenty of things to do, but did most thirteen year olds know how to cook? Well, in this District, most didn't.

I never got the whole 'close family' thing anyways. Seriously, people seemed to be having babies left and right here! There was usually a seventy percent chance that if you asked someone what was going on in their life, they would say 'Oh, we had another child! We named him Rye! He's our seventh, but we can't afford to take care of seven children, so we don't know what to do…'

It was so annoying. If you couldn't feed your family, then stop reproducing! Yes, I knew where babies came from! My parents were very blunt, and I've known for quite some time how they are made. Pretty much, to end this lovely rant, when you had a family of seven or eight children, it wasn't uncommon for at least one child to either get reaped for the Hunger Games, or die of starvation or some disease. It was actually common, and then the family would mourn over their loss for years. Yet, they were pretty much setting themselves up for failure, so what was the point of becoming close to the other person if they knew that they would most likely lose them? It just _wasn't_ logical!

"Mom… Dad…?" I asked as I opened their bedroom door.

Empty. What a surprise right there.

I walked briskly back to the front door, and muttered, "They aren't home."

"Do you know when they are getting back?" she asked impatiently.

"No clue," I murmured as I shut the door.

I went back to the kitchen and began making myself some breakfast. Again, my parents were rarely around. Sometimes, I did long for a sibling. It would be nice to not be so alone all the time, but then I would remember that having relationships and bonds with other people weren't rational. In this day and age, all it led to was misery and heartache.

Once breakfast was done cooking, I quickly jammed it down my throat and ran to my bedroom. I changed into my simple reaping outfit, and combed my shoulder length black hair. My brown eyes glared back at me the entire time. I absolutely hated all this 'primping' and 'grooming'. Who cares how I looked. All that mattered was on the inside. If you looked fabulous, but were stupid, you were still an idiot. No amount of grooming could fix _that_.

I cleaned up the mess I had made in the kitchen, and marched out the front door. I glanced around, and sighed. I lived fairly close to the town square, which meant I had time to kill.

I smiled to myself, and decided it was time to have some fun. Sometimes, I found my 'adorableness' entertaining. It was an easy way to manipulate people. Especially kind people.

I took a seat down to the girl, and smiled up at her. Before I sat next to her, I could hear she was humming to herself, while feeding some of the birds with scraps of food. When I sat down, the birds flew away, obviously not liking me. Its okay, I had gotten used to it. Most kids my age who actually knew me knew I was a bit… odd. I wasn't an extremely happy kid, and I definitely wasn't nice. Not unless I was acting.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to scare them away…" I said as apologetically as possible.

"It's fine! I was going to leave for the Reapings soon anyways." The girl smiled. Her name was… Sage? Yes Sage. I usually referred to her as the songbird, since that was what our District had nicknamed her. She was the one in the District who had the beautiful singing voice. She sang quite a lot when she was picking berries in the fields, and things spread quickly in this District. Soon, everyone knew her as the songbird. She even looked kind of like a bird. She had this soft, natural look to her, and her face was structured in such a way that if I looked closely I could imagine one of the birds in the fields. Whether that was a compliment or an insult, I'll let you decide.

"I'm sorry, but I've never caught your name. Mine is Sage." She smiled.

"I'm Scarlett…" I said as meekly as possible.

"Nervous about the Reapings?" she asked conversationally. She had an actual caring expression on her face, and it took all of my willpower not to dry heave. Caring was a weakness. If I told her I was dying and needed some money, I bet she would have handed me every spare coin she had. Some people were so easily manipulated.

"A little… Are you, miss?" I asked.

"Hmmm… not really. There are so many people in our District… The odds of me being picked…"

"Are like finding a piece of grain in an apple tree?" I giggled. I _loathed_ giggling.

"Yes, just like that," she laughed.

"Miss… Do you think you could possibly walk me to the town square? I'm still kind of scared…" I lied.

The only reason I wanted her to walk me to the town square was so that no bullies would come around. Just because I was kind of wealthy did not eliminate me from the whole social hierarchy of children. Seriously, some kids needed to grow up and face reality…

"Sure!" Sage replied happily. She wrapped my hand in hers, and we walked to the town square together. We spent most of the time laughing and joking around. There were times I actually kind of liked her, but most of the time I was just pretending to be happy and joyful. In all honesty, I would have liked nothing more than to slap her across the face. Some people bugged me, and she was one of those people.

We parted ways, and I made my way straight into the thirteen year old section. My eyes wandered past our Mayor, and soon I locked eyes with the escort. She was the same one from last year, but I couldn't recall her name. I'm pretty sure her name was Celia… Yes, that was it. She seemed nice enough. The two mentors for this year were named Ventre and Pablo. I had no idea how either of them won their games, and I couldn't care less. The Hunger Games were a blip on my radar. They were kind of interesting, but they were also a waste of time.

The Mayor made his speech, and soon Celia came up. She talked quietly into the microphone, and soon reached into the girl's reaping ball.

"Sage Hathaway…"

My eyes bulge a little bit, and I find myself almost laughing at the irony. I was just talking to her about being picked, and she wasn't worried. Well, looks like irony really is the most comedic thing in the world. I spot her climbing on to the stage, shaking slightly. However, she stays strong, and refrains from crying.

"Scarlett Macrose…"

For a few seconds, I'm frozen. A small smile does break across my face when I realize things just got five times more ironic. Both of us were reaped, and both of us thought we would never be picked. I slowly make my way to the stage, and I lock eyes with Sage.

An idea immediately pops into my mind. I'm good at manipulating, but that's about it for natural talents. Sage has proven very hardworking, resourceful, and compassionate. She already pities me and likes me, well that fake me, which means she will be easy to get to be my ally. If I continue to act like the scared, cute, little thirteen year old, I could see her feeling so bad that she could give her life to protect mine in the arena.

I immediately make my way towards her, and scoot close to her. It's a way to show her that I'm scared. A false way, but it will get the point across. She quickly grabs my hand, and continues to hold it. I lean my head against her arm, and just wait. As long as I hide behind this 'big sister' type of girl, I'll be fine. Plus, when she isn't useful anymore, she won't see a knife in the back coming. This is the most logical, sound plan that I have… Hopefully it's enough to get me to victory…

**Sage Hathaway's POV:**

Oh dear Panem.

This can't… This can't be happening to me! I… I just can't… I just can't _breathe_!

I stumble into the waiting room, practically gasping for breath. This was never supposed to happen to me! I'm seventeen! I was so close to being free from the Hunger Games evil grasp. I was just a year away… I shakily breathe in. The good news is that when I die… _If _I die, then I don't need to feel guilty. If I die, it will be just one less mouth to feed. If I win, I can bring back enough money to make sure everyone gets their fair share of food.

Suddenly, my thoughts wander to my family. Right now, my parents, grandparents, and my aunt and uncle and I are all living under one roof. It can get a little hectic, but it's necessary to conserve money. I spend my time working, but mostly I get just enough pay to feed myself. If I die, I won't hinder my family in any way.

I was disposable… just like last year's tributes. They both died in the bloodbath, and if you mentioned their names no one would know who you were talking about. They were good people, yet forgettable. That's all we are to the Capital. Disposable and forgettable. And it makes me sick.

How dare they decide who lives and who dies! How dare they try and play God! They are sick, twisted fiends who deserve nothing more than eternal damnation!

I felt myself shaking with pure anger and hatred. They were going to try and take my life away from me. They were going to try and take away little Scarlett's life. Only one can win, yet I wanted both him and me to win… Why would they make us choose things like this? Why would they make us choose between ourselves and others? Do they have no dignity!

Suddenly, the door was thrust open and my entire family poured in. Everyone I held dear came rushing in at once like a flood, and it overcame me. I felt myself beginning to drown, and there was nothing I could do but let the flood take over my entire body. Grief and pure self-pity filled my entire being as my family cried over my impending doom.

My quiet mother, hardworking father, pessimistic uncle, protective grandmother, and loving grandfather all thought I was going to die. When you compared little, meek me to a hulking Career, it just seemed impossible for me to win. The only person who seemed to not be completely stricken with grief and defeat was my aunt.

My aunt pulled me into a hug, and whispered "Don't you dare give up. No matter what happens, you must never give up. No matter what the Capital puts you through, you just can't give up on life."

"All right," I whispered in between quiet sobs.

"Good. Now take this… your brother would have wanted it to be your token…" she murmured. She put a miniature God's eye in my hand. It was made of green yarn and scraps of wood… my brother made it for me…

I clutched it life one would a life raft, and I felt myself slowly being pulled out of the flood. My aunt was right. I couldn't give up. I was a survivor, and I'm going to make it through this. No matter what happens, I have to make it through this.

Suddenly, one more visitor appeared which was odd. Usually they only let family in with family.

"I lied to the Peacekeepers and said I was your sister… Well, I do feel like your sister so I guess I won't be stricken down for lying," Poppy joked.

"Poppy," I whispered as I ran to her. Poppy had been my best friend since we were children. She had always been there for me, and I really couldn't remember life without her. She was another reason to fight.

"You're coming back," Poppy stated angrily.

"Poppy… you know the chan-"

"_Screw_ the chances. You're coming back!"

"Okay, Poppy… Whatever you say," I whispered.

Soon, I was crying again, and I could even feel Poppy sobbing as well. Poppy never showed her emotions… never, ever…

Soon, all those that I loved were ripped away from me, and I was being dragged towards the train. "I can walk myself without being dragged, thank you," I said curtly.

The Peacekeepers let go at my comment, but still didn't leave my side. I found Scarlett, and grabbed his hand for reassurance. This little boy… I was going to protect him. Still, at the end of the day, I was the number one priority. I had things to fight for. I had my aunt to fight for! I had my future nephew to fight for! My brother and Poppy were the most important things in my life, and I was going to fight for them as well. I may be just a little songbird, but soon I was going to have to become a vulture. I was not disposable. I was valuable, and I wasn't going down without a fight!

**ONLY TWO MORE REAPINGS! I really hope you guys like these tributes because I adore them :D review and tell me ;D haha thanks DimitrisGirl and orTherefore for these lovely tributes! I had a blast writing them :D I have my first two finals next week, so expect maybe only a few updates in the few weeks, pending on how much homework I have :D So yes, I hope I did these tributes justice, and I can't wait to write the next two reapings :D **


	15. District Twelve Reapings

**A/N: The Creators of these fine tributes, I kind of changed a lot of things about them (history wise and such to better fit the District I have created and also future plans I have for them) I hope that's okay.**

**Reapings:**

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth Angelo's POV:**

Left strike … _Lunge_... Left strike… Right strike… _Lunge_ … Right strike…

"Ruth!" I heard someone yell.

"What!" I replied while I continued to strike the stuffed dummy. I had traded a small trinket for it easily, and it was one of the best trades I had ever made.

"You need to get ready for the Reapings!" my mom yelled again.

"I'll get ready when I need to!" I said rudely.

I quickly hit the dummy as hard as I could with my right palm, and then slid to the ground. Training… Training was _hard_! I had been doing it for awhile now, but it was taking its toll on me. I just couldn't imagine _two_ more years of this! Still, I had a purpose… I had no choice, but to keep surviving.

I stood up shakily, and wiped the sweat off my brow.

Since I was in District Twelve, there wasn't that great of an opportunity to get my hands on a weapon. The only thing I could easily get my hands on was a knife, and I would rather _die_ than train with _that_ disgusting thing! Of course, I could have become a hunter and trained with a bow and arrow… but I couldn't trust them either. I shook my head and left my bedroom. I was rambling again… wasn't I? I quickly went outside, and started pumping water for my bath.

The ice cold water splashed into the bucket, and I felt some of it splatter against my skin. I shivered, and rolled my eyes. Even if you were rich in District Twelve, you never got the luxury of warm water. Well, you could heat it up yourself, but that took far too long for my tastes. I spent the next fifteen minutes running from the bathroom to outside and back again, slowly filling up the wooden tub.

Once it was full, I slipped in and hissed. So… cold…

Eventually, my body went numb and I began to wash the grime off of my skin. To this day, I still had no idea how I got so dirty. It just… was a daily thing in this District. Grime seemed to grow on our skin. It was _quite_ disgusting.

I looked down at my hands once I was done scrubbing. In two years, I was planning on going into the games and killing people with these hands. Jabbing my right hand into a pressure point and paralyzing them. Taking my nails and raking it across their faces… I was going to get my revenge... And anyone who got in my way was going to die with them!

I stepped out of the bathtub, and sprinted to my room. I quickly slipped into a pale blue dress, and tried to style my hair as best as I could. I didn't really spend that much time on my appearance like other girls did. Frankly, I had better things to worry about then impressions or boys.

I walked into the kitchen area to see my mom eating breakfast. My plate was on the counter, and I began to slowly eat without sitting down. The silence felt unbearable.

Soon, she asked the question she asked every year. "Are you volunteering?"

Here comes the fireworks… "No, mom, not this year."

"You shouldn't volunteer at all," she scolded.

"You know why I have to…"

"No, I really don't Ruth!" my mother yelled.

"I have to avenge her death! She can't die without vain!" I argued back.

"Catalina wouldn't want this!' my mother cried out.

"You have no idea what she would have wanted!" I yelled louder.

This was our constant argument, and usually it ended there. However, this year, it seemed to have escalated to an entirely new level. "Catalina was a sweet girl! She wouldn't have wanted you to kill people just because she died!"

"She was a sweet girl, which meant she shouldn't have died! There were plenty of other people in this District! Any of them could have died! Why did it have to be her?"

"I don't know, but when things like this happen you are supposed to move on! Not train for the Hunger Games!"

"If you really would have loved her, you would support what I am doing!"

"I did love her! Which is why I moved on! _She_ would have wanted that! _She_ would have wanted us to be happy again!" My mother practically screamed at me.

"I get it, you don't want to lose both of your daughters! But I have to do this!" I yelled back.

This time, my mother's voice went down to nearly a whisper, and she said with venom in her voice, "The day Catalina died, I lost both of my daughters. You aren't Ruth anymore… You're some… some…"

I didn't even listen to the last part of her comment before I slammed the front door behind me. I felt tears beginning to sting my blue eyes, but I just continued to walk away from my house. How could she say something like that! How could she… how could she say I wasn't even her daughter anymore…

The reason I was going into the Hunger Games was simply because I had to avenge her death. She was killed out in the forest one day. She was found with a throwing knife stuck right in her head. Two things could have happened. Someone was training for the Hunger Games, and thought she was a tree or animal. The other was one of the Hunters thought she was an animal and killed her. Either way, those two groups of people were the 'Careers' of this District. I couldn't kill every single one of them… But I could go into the Hunger Games and slaughter the tributes from Districts One, Two, and Four.

All Careers deserved to die! They were training to end someone else's life. Of course, I was doing the same thing, but I had a drive! I had revenge… The Career's had no morale or reason for their killing. They were just disgusting Capital mutts.

I found myself in the Hob, and I started looking at different stands. Everyone was always wary of me. As of now, there were four people known for training in this District. Rhonda, Keith, Charles, and I were the 'Careers'. The different between the other three and me were that they were training in case they were reaped. I was training to actually volunteer, which was why people tended to fear me. They all thought I was crazy… Well, most of them did. The people in the Hob knew me fairly well, and they were sort of like an extended family.

I made my way over to Devon's stand and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, and gave me a huge smile. "How are you today, Ruth?"

"Been better," I laughed, "What do you have for me?"

Devon began looking through his different bags, and I smiled. Devon and I had become fairly good friends over the past few years. He was two years older than me, and was one of the youngest traders in the Hob. However, he was really good at it. What he did was exchange what he had for what others had. It was an endless cycle of trading. The only things he ever kept were things that would continue to make him new products, such as chickens or goats.

We started becoming friends a few years ago. I was here trading with someone, and I saw him desperately trying to trade with someone else. Apparently his mom was sick, and he needed medicine. The person was a hunter, and the person took the eggs Devon was trying to give him and threw them on the ground.

"_Next time try to give me something I can't hunt"_

That's what he said to someone he was just trying to help his mom! I had always hated hunters, and I especially dislike uncaring, selfish people, so I went up to the Hunter and decked him out so hard he went flying. Devon and I had been friends ever since.

Suffice to say, Devon's mom did eventually die… Tragedy wasn't uncommon in this District. People were dying left and right every day. Whether it was illness, starvation, or murder, this was one of the hardest districts to live in.

"Well, I do have this lovely scarf that matches your reaping outfit," Devon smiled.

He knew I wasn't that much into fashion, but even I could see how well the light lavender scarf went with my blue dress. I pursed my lip, and wondered if it was a good idea to waste anything on something as frivolous as fashion.

"How much?" I gave in.

"What do you got?"

"A hair brush and some pocket change," I showed him.

Apparently, the pocket change was enough because he snatched it out of my hand and gave the scarf to me. I wrapped it around my neck, and smiled at him. "Do I look fabulous," I joked as I stroke a pose.

Devon let out a loud guffaw, and grabbed his supplies. He stuffed them into some container, and closed up his stand. "You look Capital ready!" he teased.

I linked my arm in his, and we began walking to the town square. "How was your trading this week?"

"It was okay… the Hunters were being stupid again. They always try and demand so much."

"Idiots," I murmured.

Another we thing we bonded over was our hatred for Hunters. The Hunters were a group of Katniss Everdeen wannabes. After the rebellion faded, they started the Hunters, who would hunt food and sell it. At first, it was a successful business, but now it was a radical rebellious group. They were all waiting for the next rebellion, and couldn't wait to participate in it. They were all idiots. The Hunger Games were a good thing. I saw it as a tool to rid the world of all the bad people. It got rid of Careers, people who enjoyed killing, and just bad people. Am I saying everyone who was reaped was bad? No, but a good majority were!

"Hey, mind if we split up? I see Nelly over there, and Nathan is waiting for you like a lost puppy dog."

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the arm. "Stupid Seam kid," I joked.

"Idiot Merchant child," he smiled.

We both laughed, and walked off in separate directions. Nelly was Devon's best friend, even though she was Hunter. However, I kind of liked her myself. She only did it for the money. She had no desire for rebellion, nor was she arrogant or mean.

Nathan… well Nathan was stubborn. I tended to put up walls and push people away. It was just what I did… And Nathan didn't take no for answer. He still was trying to get past my walls and be there for me. He was the closest person to me, and I just couldn't imagine life without him. Of course, I never tell him this. I don't want to inflate his already huge ego.

"Pretty scarf," he murmured as he rubbed it between his fingers.

"Thanks," I smiled. Nathan wasn't a huge fan of Devon… He thought there was some competition, when there really wasn't. Even though Devon wouldn't admit it, I knew he had a thing for Nelly. I could just tell by how he treated her.

"We should probably sign in," I smile at him.

"Yeah… we should." He mumbled.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Just worried… that's all…" he admitted.

"Don't be! There is no chance you'll be reaped."

The rest of the time we spent signing in, and then heading to our section. We eventually split up, and I just stayed on the outskirts of the sixteen year old girl's section. I glanced up at the stage, and looked at our escort nervously wringing his hands. Fiyero didn't seem that bad, but he was from the Capital. Most people from the Capital seemed extremely selfish and corrupt.

My eyes wandered to out two living mentors. Cody and Ophelia. Cody won his games purely on luck. A merchant kid who spent all his time running away, and eventually he ran out of people he could chase him. Ophelia was a different story. She was smart enough not to touch flowers that she didn't know about, since she owned a flower shop with her family. It was a good thing, because all the flowers in the arena were mutts in disguise, and if anyone touched them they got eaten. Eventually, she made it to the final eight or so, and killed three Careers with the element of surprise. Well, the Careers weren't all together at the same time, but it was quite a feat! However, when I looked at her now, she looked dead. Last year, her daughter was reaped, and her replacement tribute was her twin brother. They both died, and Ophelia's husband has been dead quite some time. Ophelia is all alone now, and it is obviously taking a toll on her. The only thing 'alive' about her are her eyes. They still have some spark in them.

The Mayor made his speech, and Fiyero pranced over to the girl's reaping ball. He drew out a name, and I waited patiently.

"Ruth Angelo!"

My eyes went wide, and I felt my jaw drop. I still… I still had two more years of training to complete! I wasn't ready yet! I…I…

I had no choice.

I closed my mouth, and marched up to the stage. I saw a Peacekeeper make his way over to me to grab my arm, and I turned and stared at him. "Touch me, and you die." I hissed. I was not going to manhandled like every other tribute year after year.

He obviously didn't care, because he and one of the other Peacekeepers grabbed either side of me.

Well, it was their funeral.

Before Fiyero could even call out the boy's name, I forced my fist upwards right into the Peacekeeper's jaw. I stomped my foot down as hard I could on the other one's foot, and sent a quick jab with my right hand right into the Peacekeeper I had punched. It hit him in a pressure point, and he immediately slipped into unconsciousness.

Before I could even ask if anyone wanted to manhandle me now, five Peacekeepers were on me and dragging me to the Justice Building. I kicked, and screamed. I bit and punched. I glanced in front of me, and saw Devon Wright following us. No… He was reaped? I was being sent into the Hunger Games with a friend?

I stopped fighting, and my body went limp. Suddenly, going into the Hunger Games didn't sound like such a great idea… However, I took on last glance at my District, and thought of Catalina. Her death would be avenged. Even if I had to die, I would slaughter every Career with my bare hands!

**Devon Wright's POV:**

I stepped in my waiting room, and just held my face in my hands. How could this be happening! Ruth and I were both reaped… I knew both of us had a chance, but I never wanted this! I would have been fine spending the rest of my life trading supplies! This was my last year, and then I would have been free!

I shook my head again. Well, that was all in the past. I had to keep looking on forward from here. I was going to be in the Hunger Games, and I had to try to survive. My greatest strength is my mind. Well, not in the typical intelligent sense. I have been trader for quite some time now, and I've gotten fairly good at persuading people to do things my way. That could be helpful in the Hunger Games… right?

Well, the downside to all of this is I couldn't lie to save my life… literally. I'm a horrible liar. Unlike Olivia from last year's games. She fooled everyone into thinking she was a floozy. She made it to about the half way mark, which was surprising since I thought she would make it farther with her strategy. Her District Partner, Dusk, was not as smart as she was, but he definitely had an amazing talent for camouflage.

Before I could finish my thought process, the door opened in came my father and brother. My father came over and gave me a hug, while my brother stood behind him and stared at his shoes.

"I can't believe this is happening…" my father said shakily.

"It's okay, dad, I can make it through this!" I said optimistically.

"First your mother… and now you… I can't lose my entire family!" he cried desperately.

"I'm going to be fine," I said through clenched teeth.

"But y-"

"No _buts_ dad."

I heard my brother snicker and I rolled my eyes. Really, Leon, grow up! "Dad, I'm not mom. You need to move on. She died, and there is nothing we can do about it! Even if I die, then you still need to move on and take care of Leon!"

My father stayed silent, and took a step back. He was obviously done saying his goodbyes; already sure I was going to die. I gently shook my head, and nodded at Leon.

"Don't die… Kay?" Leon mumbled as he continued to shuffle about.

"I won't… make sure the house doesn't burn down while I'm gone," I laughed.

Leon laughed with me until my dad interrupted, "This is no time to be laughing!"

Right when he said that, the Peacekeepers came in and dragged my family out. One of them had a black eye already forming, and I let out a small snicker. Ruth really got him good!

The next people to enter were my two best friends Roger and Yoth. Roger was the jokester out of the three of us. This was the first time in a long time I had seen him without smile spread across his goofy face. Yoth was the 'ladies man'. He was always going from one girl to the next, but at least he told the girls straight up he didn't love them. He never lied to his 'girlfriends' and I respected him for that.

"I'm sorry, man," I heard Yoth whisper.

"This sucks," Roger agreed.

"Don't worry about me. I can handle it!" I stated.

"Liar," Yoth accused.

"Maybe a little," I admitted.

We 'man hugged' it out, and soon they were whisked away as well.

The next person to enter was Nelly. He walked in, and it felt like the world stopped. I didn't have a crush on her or anything, but she was the person who was closest to me. It was hard to imagine this might very well be the last time I saw her.

Tears were already in her eyes as she said, "Here, I got something for you."

She handed me a metal locket, and I opened it up. Inside was a picture of my family on the left side, and her and all our friends on the right side. I looked even more closely at it, and realized that my mother was in the picture of the one of my family and I.

"Where… where did you get these?"

"Your father gave them to me… I was going to give this to you for your nineteenth birthday… Thankfully I finished it last month."

"Well, keep it until then!" I said optimistically.

"Devon… There is a high chance you won't be coming back…" Nelly whispered.

I took her into my arms and pressed my face into her hair. I could feel her crying softly, and tears began to form in my eyes as well.

"I am coming home! One way or another!"

She looked into my eyes. "You're not lying… You really can come home!" she said happily.

"One way or another." I repeated.

I continued to hug her, but I felt my expression change to one of pure and utter defeat. I wasn't lying. I was going to come home one way or another. However, most likely I was going to be coming home in a wooden box… dead…

**BE THANKFUL! I'VE HAD THE ALMOST WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE AND I SO DID NOT WANT TO WRITE OR UPDATE! I hope I did these tributes Justice, and if I screwed up then just tell me because I really don't need sugarcoating or lying from anyone right now. Thanks for the lovely tributes bowserboy and lady penrnabellum.**


	16. District Thirteen Reapings

**Reapings:**

**District Thirteen:**

**Alexei Drake's POV:**

I woke up with a yawn, and glanced around. Today was District Thirteen's first reaping day.

That's just freaking _fantastic_.

I rolled my eyes, and rose out of bed. The reason today sucked so epically bad was because I knew I was going to be reaped. I've been in training since I was twelve because I knew if the Capital forced us into the Hunger Games, I would be the target. My father is second in command in District Thirteen, which makes me a huge 'enemy' of the Capital.

I walk over to the stupid little hole in the wall and shove my arm into it. I wait for a little bit, and slowly pull it out.

_8:00- 9:00: Breakfast_

_ 9:00- 11:00: Training_

_ 11:00-11:30: Preparation_

_ 11:30- 12:00: Reapings_

_ If not Reaped, come back for the rest of your schedule._

Wow, even the stupid hole in the wall thought I might be reaped. Today was just getting better and better.

I quickly slipped into some simple training clothes and began walking towards the mess hall. Here in District Thirteen, everyone knew one day the Capital would bring us back into the Hunger Games. It was only a matter of time before they decided they needed to do something even bigger to show how much 'power' they had over us. We decided that we weren't going to just stand by and let it happen. People in this District had been training for the Hunger Games since the last rebellion. It's just been a tradition for what _might_ happen.

Now, by no means are we a Career District. In fact, I doubt anyone would volunteer today. We train to survive, not kill. We may know how to fight, but we aren't savages. We will never be a Capital lapdog.

I finally made it into the mess hall, and I quickly grabbed the rationed food tray. Even though my father was of higher status, District Thirteen was always _fair_ and _equal_. Gosh, would one more bowl of gruel really kill anyone?

I take a seat by my friends, and all of them smile at me. Sometimes, I felt as though they didn't know the real me. Everyone seemed to expect so much of me. I was one of the 'Golden' children of the District. One of those kids that had parents in high positions, so everyone expected them to be perfect. If only people could see what I was exactly thinking… Wouldn't all of them be surprised?

"How are you feeling today?" Grace asked. She put her hand on top of mine in a 'comforting' gesture, and I quickly used that hand to begin eating.

"Great," I smiled. The one down side about this District was that sometimes we didn't seem like people. We were expected to be perfect, and if we showed that we weren't, the treatment wasn't always the most pleasant thing in the world.

"Well, hurry up and eat your food so we can get to training!" Maks said excitedly. He may dislike the Hunger Games, but anything involving physical activity got him pumped up.

"All right, all right, I'm chewing!" I laughed.

I quickly ate my food and began walking towards the training center with my group. Our training group only consisted of the four of us. It was just Grace, Maks, Alek, and I. The "Three Musketeers, and the random chick" as Maks liked to call us.

As we walked, Grace got a little closer to me and asked, "Are you sure you're fine? You're a little tense…"

I smiled at her, and nodded. Grace and I were… complicated. I cared about her a lot, but we weren't a public thing yet. Frankly, there were two reasons. One, I knew for a fact my father did not like Grace at all. He saw her as a loudmouth, and thought every man should marry a quiet, obedient wife, like my mother. Two, it was possible that she may be reaped if the Capital found out how close we were… and I wasn't going to let that happen.

We made it to the training center in one piece, and immediately walked over to our favorite weapons. Our training center was apparently just a cheap knock off of the Capital's. All we had were weapons to train with, and I heard that we had fewer weapons and they weren't nearly as good of quality as the Capital's.

I picked up my favorite weapon, a sword, while Grace chose a bow and arrow. Maks and Aleks both preferred axes. We began training, and soon I got into a rhythm. I had to admit, training was one of my favorite things as well. It was the only I seemed to be able to get out all the aggression I built up. If I went without training for too long, my anger started to build up, and I sometimes just exploded. Thankfully, that had only happened in front of Grace and my mother, but still it was embarrassing, and bad for my dad's name.

I imagined the dummy was everything I hated. The Capital. The Careers. Everything that was evil and unjust. I stabbed, parried, and slashed. I did every sword move I could think of, until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I swung my sword around, almost knocking Aleks had right off.

"Training is over… Apparently the Capital got here sooner than expected…" Aleks murmured.

Great… just great… time to go to my death even faster!

I merged in with the mass of kids and teenagers. I fought my way towards the front, and eventually made it out into the hallway. I took the familiar path to my room, and slipped in. Since my father was of 'high standings' each of his children got their own adjoining rooms. I could hear my sisters in the room next door giggling and getting ready. They were six and four, and just adorable. Well, sometimes they were a pain, but what siblings weren't?

I slipped into the 'official' reaping outfit. It was a simple black jumpsuit, but they were having every potential tribute wear it. They didn't want any one person to stand out… That's just how District Thirteen worked.

"Felicia… Treize… You two ready?" I asked.

"Yes sir!" Felicia giggled. They were in pink dresses. Since they weren't eligible to be picked yet, they got to wear whatever the heck they wanted.

I just smiled at them, and let each of them take one of my hands. We walked all the way to the new "town square" hand in hand. The new town square was simply the place where the Capital blew a giant hole in the wall. It was to represent our weakness I guess. I swear, the Capital was filled with a bunch of freaking narcissists! Only they would take a stupid gaping hole in the wall as such a thing!

I let my little sisters stand on the sidelines while I signed in. I made my way to the seventeen year old section, and stood in the crowd. I looked at the stage, and I saw my father and the man first in command talking to each other quietly. Their wives were standing beside them. My mother looked terrified, and I just wanted to go up and hug her. I looked to the right and saw a woman wringing her hands and coughing. She must be the new escort. Not only was she going to be the first escort for District Thirteen ever, but she also seemed to be new to the job completely. This was going to be a _great_ couple years.

Of course, we had no victors, which meant we had mentors from another District mentoring us. They were both from District Four. One was named Charles, and the other Traya. I had no idea how they won their games, and I frankly didn't care. They probably wouldn't even help us since they would want another District Four tribute to win. Stupid Careers.

The first in command made his speech, and my father made a small one after him. Our new escort made her way to the microphone nervously, and dropped it when she tried to pick it up the first time. It made a terrible screeching noise, and everyone covered their ears.

"Sorry! So sorry!" She yelled into the microphone, "My name is Yuthara!" I rolled my eyes at her obviously over preppy personality. Her irises were dyed a bright pink color, and her hair was an electric blue that went down to her lower back. She had swirling tattoos across her body, each swirl a different bright color.

"Let's start with the girls!" Yuthara squealed excitedly. All I prayed was that it wasn't Grace. Please not Grace…

"Ayla Siege!"

I let out a breathe of relief, and looked for the first tribute from District Thirteen. A mid height girl walked out of the sixteen year olds section, and had a look of utter shock on her face. I was just as confused as she was. Why would they choose a girl that had no impact on the District? It just didn't make sense…

"Alexei Drake!"

I gave a deep sigh, and made my way through the crowd. I had been dreading this moment for days, and now it was coming true. At least… At least I was prepared. I shook hands with the girl, and I could tell she was terrified. Well, that was okay, because than that made two of us…

**Ayla Siege's POV:**

Terror. That is all that radiates through my body. Pure and utter terror.

I had trained since I was twelve, just like everyone else. However, I never thought I would be reaped. Heck, I didn't even believe we would even be dragged into the Hunger Games. Yet, here we were, being thrown into the Hunger Games…

How was this fair? I never did anything! My entire life, I had followed all the rules. I always followed my schedule, and never disobeyed any authorities. I spent my life abiding by the rules, and just scraping by.

Sending me to the Capital didn't affect anyone. My father and mother were both dead, and neither of them was ever in any high position of power. My mother died of a disease that swept through this District when I was little, and my father died a few years ago on some mission.

They were nobodies, just like me. If I died, I would be forgotten, just like them. No one would remember Ayla, the girl who followed every rule ever placed.

Suddenly, my three best friends burst into the 'waiting room', which was just the mess hall. My district partner, Alexei was on the other far side, and I could see him saying goodbye to his parents. Everyone knew about Alexei. The perfect boy who always did everything right. See, we seemed to be a lot alike, but there was a key difference. He always did everything right, while I just followed the rules. I still screwed up, which made me human and forgettable.

Xena is the first one by my side, and she immediately hugs me harder than I have ever been hugged. Xena is practically like a sister to me. We even live in the same room… I wonder who will be assigned her new roommate when I'm gone…

"You're fast, and great with knives! You can win so easily, Ayla!" Xena said a bit hysterically. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince me.

"I'll try," I said meekly.

"No, you'll win!" Ginny barked. Ginny was another one of my close friends. She wasn't exactly the… nicest girl around, but she was very loyal, which I was thankful for. I could hear the Peacekeepers beginning to pour into the mess hall. We weren't allowed the same amount of time to say goodbye like most tributes. We had to take a hovercraft from here to the Capital, since there was no train tracks yet, just to make it there on time. I knew I had little time, and I immediately looked over at my last best friend, Shawne.

Shawne… Well, I had a crush on him… A big crush. We had been best friends since… forever… and I never wanted to tell him about my crush. Frankly, if things went bad, it wouldn't just ruin our friendship, but break up our group. Our training group would be awkward, and our friendships would be strained. Now, I was going to go die, and there was no time to tell him like the present.

"Come back safe, okay?" Shawne smiled.

"I like you a lot!" I blurted out awkwardly. I clapped my hand over my mouth, and I heard Xena gasp. Shock was spread across Shawne's face, and Ginny just rolled her eyes. She obviously didn't see it as 'that' dramatic when you compared it to the fact that several Peacekeepers were marching over here to escort me.

"Just… come back…" Shawne stuttered out. He handed me a small pendant in the shape of a heart. I recognized it immediately as his mother's and smiled at him. Perhaps… maybe he did care.

"Just don't be a bloodbath tribute, okay?" Ginny said harshly. I blinked, and soon the Peacekeepers were on me. They 'escorted' me away, and soon I was practically being dragged.

Alexei was right next to me, and he gave me a quick smile. "Having fun?"

"Of course," I laughed.

We just smiled at each other once more, and turned our attention to not being injured by the harsh treatment of the Peacekeepers. Suddenly, I was filled with a burst of anger. I was being sent to die for the Capital, and this is how they were treating me? They wouldn't even let me walk to the hovercraft like a _human_ _being_!

A fire and flash of confidence radiated through my body that I never knew I had. My entire life I had followed the rules, and now I was going to be killed by either some sadistic tribute our mutts. I was going to be forgotten, and nobody would care about poor little Ayla Siege. Well, enough is enough! No more following these stupid rules! Starting now until the day I die, I'm done following rules.

Instead, I'm going to make my own rules…

**DONE WITH THE REAPINGS! Oh gosh, wow, it's been hard, but we survived the Reapings :D I find the Reapings extremely important, but also so tedious to write at times XD So, here is how it's going to go for the next few chapters. Two train Ride chapters, one from tributes POV and one from mentors POV, and then one chariot ride chapter. I don't know how many training POV, but at least three, and then interviews, and then games :D **

**So, review! I'm super excited and I hope all of you are too! Thanks so much to carmencielle and fangaloicious for these two amazing tributes :D You helped define my District Thirteen with these two, so be proud!**


	17. Train Rides: Part One

**Train Rides: **

**Part One:**

**District Two:**

**Apollo's POV:**

I stepped onto the train, and the door was slammed behind me. Soon, the sounds of cameras faded away when they knew they weren't going to get anymore shots of us. I looked around the train, and took in the splendor of it all. Every single luxury item, every single speck of gold appeared to be perfectly placed. Everything seemed to be there for a reason, even if the reason was purely for decoration purposes.

"Nice place they got here," I muttered to myself.

"You could say that again," Linnet chimed in. I glanced over at her, surprised. Wow, she certainly had a good ear.

"Feel free to explore the train! Just be on time for dinner!" Sparkler smiled brightly. She then flounced out of the room, and I just shook my head with a sly smile on my face. She was definitely a complete airhead… she didn't even _tell_ us when dinner was.

"Now, I know it's proper for the mentor to be the same gender of the tribute they are mentoring to… avoid any sort of attachments… but this is my sister, and I'm mentoring her. Any questions?" Castiel barked out.

"Fine by me. Apollo seems like an okay kid," Linnet smirked.

"Good," Castiel huffed as he tromped out of the room. Jordana rolled her eyes and stomped down the opposite hallway.

"Well, since we have some time to kill… Do you want to get to know each other a little better?" Linnet asked almost excitedly.

"Sure…" I said uneasily.

We sat down in two chairs facing each other.

"I'll go first," I smiled. "I'm Apollo Caius."

"Well, I knew that much," Linnet smirked.

"I can cut someone's head off with a sword in five seconds flat," I joked.

"Oh yes, and I have tea parties with President Raven every Sundays," Linnet replied sarcastically.

The rest of our conversation just flew by. We talked about our home lives, and our families. We also talked about some of our interests, and likes and dislikes. The thing I was itching to ask her about was her time in the Hunger Games. Well, my opportunity arose fairly quickly.

"So a sword is actually your favorite weapon?" Linnet asked.

"Yes ma'am. What's yours?"

"Throwing knives," Linnet replied, "but I think everyone knows that."

"What was it like… to kill someone?" I asked. I wasn't exactly looking forward to killing someone, but I was excited to fight an actual human being with real weapons. The action of the Hunger Games was always my favorite part.

"It's a difficult thing to describe," Linnet said solemnly, "Imagine waking up, and hearing the heartbeat of the galaxy… and then suddenly it stops… and you know it's your fault."

"Wow that's… harsh." I whispered.

"The truth is harsh," Linnet barked, "Now go get ready. Dinner will be served soon."

I stood up hastily and walked towards the place Linnet motioned to. Someone definitely had some issues with killing… yet she ended up killing seven people. Perhaps it just worn her down over the years… the guilt of it all. Well, all I knew was that would never be me. I couldn't let the past define me like that.

I slipped into the bedroom I assumed was mine, and gawked at the beauty of it all. I went and sat down on one of the plush cushions, and just sunk into the comfortable material. Now _this_ I could get used to. I yawned, and looked around. I didn't _really_ need to take a shower. A nap sounded far more desirable.

I went over to my bed, and just threw myself on it. I sunk into the waves of silk, and soon I was drifting in and out of consciousness. When I woke up, I glanced out the window and let out a groan. I probably didn't have that much time before dinner. I quickly changed into a nice dress suit, and used one of the many ties. I exited the room with my hands in my pockets and a smile on my face. How could life get any better right now?

Well, I could tell you how it wasn't going to get any better. I heard muffled groans and yells coming from my District Partner's room. Being a boy, my mind immediately wandered to that area, but I quickly shoved it aside. I opened the door a little bit, and peeked inside. Jordana was in a simple red green blouse with black slacks. She was sitting down in a chair, and was just looking out the window. About five feet away from her, with scowl on his face, was her older brother.

"Jordana, don't screw this up!" Castiel growled.

"I don't know what you're worried about," Jordana hissed, "I was the one who volunteered, and I'm the one who will die if I screw up!"

"Your death will reflect on me, and I can't have you messing up my image!" Castiel barked.

Jordana whipped her head around, her dreadlocks going so fast I could see her using them as weapons, and she just stared at her brother. Both of them, as dark and cold as stone. "Because I'm worried about your problems right now!"

Castiel's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand. He turned it into a fist, but Jordana just stared at him. It wasn't until a few seconds later I knew what I was actually doing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said nonchalantly as I held his arm in a firm grip. Castiel's and Jordana's eyes met with mine, each showing a different emotion. Jordana seemed shocked, while Castiel just looked even more pissed.

"She's my sister; I'll deal with her how I please!"

"You will treat her like a young lady should be treated," I corrected him.

"You snot nosed _brat! Get out!_" Castiel shouted.

"Actually, this is _my_ room, and I think _you_ should leave!" Jordana snarled at Castiel.

Castiel's black face turned a very dark shade of purple, and it seemed like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. I let go of his arm, and he practically sprinted away. Except, I would call it more like bulldozing, since everything in his path was destroyed. He knocked the already open door of its hinges, and I just stared at Jordana.

"Nice family you got there," I remarked.

"Oh yeah, he's the best. I bet we're the closest siblings in District Two," she replied sarcastically.

"I bet," I replied softly.

Suddenly, Jordana's pride knocked in, and she spat at me, "You shouldn't have interfered. I had it under control."

"No you didn't," I stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

"_Excuse_ me?" She hissed.

"You're excused," I smirked.

Jordana's anger faded for about two seconds, and I saw a smile flash across her face. "I think you're all right, for an idiotic boy."

"And I think you're pretty cool as well, for an overly independent woman."

Her grin became even more dominant. "Okay I get it; you're a hilarious smart aleck. Now let's go to the dining cart, I'm starving."

"Are you asking me to escort you?" I mockingly asked.

"Well… you can, but I swear if you open a door for me or pull a chair out for me, you will end up with a broken jaw and our friendship is over."

"Oh, so we're friends now." I smiled.

Jordana's face went blank for a second, before turning the same shade of purple her brother's face had just minutes ago. "That's… I didn't… You just…. Shut up!" She sputtered.

She stomped away and I yelled after her, "So I can take your breath away now too?"

**District Three:**

**Thomas's POV:**

I took one step into the train and felt sick. They had all this, and there were people back home _dying_ of starvation. What in Panem's name was wrong with these people! I looked over at our mentor, Tiner, and he just stared back with understanding in his eyes. I had a feeling he was sickened by it too.

"Well, they certainly know how to treat people," Valhalla said in her usual monotone voice. I wasn't sure whether she was kidding, or being dead serious.

"Yes… So, you have awhile until dinner… Just show up when you're ready," Tiner mumbled. He hobbled away, and our escort, Markus, followed him with a hop in his step.

"Uhm… you want to do some exploring, Valhalla?" I asked.

Valhalla glanced at me, and gave me the look I saw kids give science experiments. It sent shivers down my body.

"You're the boy who makes inventions with his little girlfriend. The one who yelled out your name during the Reapings," she mentioned callously.

"We're not dating," I sputtered.

"But you want to," Valhalla stated. I was beginning to realize everything that came out of her mouth was said without emotion, and also was stated as if it was a proven fact. So far, everything she did say seemed to be a fact.

"Well…" I began.

"You're smart as well, but I doubt you have it in you to kill," Valhalla mentioned as if it was some great embarrassment that I wasn't a murderer at heart.

"Now, that isn't exa-"

"Plus, you seem very observant, because I've seen your eyes taking in every detail of this room as if it might somehow save your life later. Or perhaps you are thinking of different ways you could make inventions out of these common items."

"How did you kn-"

"Enough, you're beginning to bore me." Valhalla interrupted.

"You must think a lot of yourself to not even let me finish a sentence," I muttered quietly.

"And you must not have any confidence to not speak over me and make yourself be heard," She smiled at me slyly.

"I-I-I," I stuttered out.

"I think you'll be my first kill in the games," she said nonchalantly.

"_What!_" I squeaked out.

"Unless you can convince me you're worthy enough to live. Tell me a little about yourself." She commanded.

I wasn't sure if she was being honest, or just playing a mind game with me. A big part of me thought she was just trying to psychologically torture me, but if she was serious, I'd better play along.

"Uhm… Well, I live with my mother and grandmother. My grandfather died when I was little, but left behind a good sum of money from his inventions. Uh, my father left my mother when she was pregnant with me because she found out he was married, and he wasn't going to leave his wife for her. Later, when I was six or seven, he came back, saying he finally left his wife for my mother, but my mother knew she somehow found out about me or her. Suffice to say, my father is crazy and I've never really had a desire to know him. Sadly, that meant I had no male figure in my life which means I never grew confidence… or, at least, it's what some parenting books say... and I-"

"You do realize you're rambling on about nothing, and completely not answering my question." Valhalla condemned.

"I'm sorry… What was the question again?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter. You're _weak_. You've let something your father did affect the person you are today. You easily get nervous, and even if you observe something beneficial, you play it safe instead of risking being hurt or damaged. You let emotions and paranoia rule your life, and you won't even make it past the initial bloodbath. Sadly, you probably won't be my kill, but I assure you there is no way in _hell_ you are winning these games." Valhalla spoke sharply.

My mouth was wide open, and she spun on her heals. The short, raven-haired girl turned back and looked at me one time. Her cold blue eyes met my sad blue eyes, and she said one thing to me. "You might as well end it now, because if I catch you, I promise your death won't be quick or painless."

When she was finally gone, I slid to the floor. My entire body felt as if it was broken. She had analyzed me, stripped away all my barriers, and completely demolished me in a matter of minutes. She may be weak, but she was probably one of the smartest tributes these games had. She was also one of the cruelest. Tears began to roll down my face. I was weak. I let my paranoia rule me, which pretty much made any brains I had useless. I was fairly antisocial, which meant I would have next to no allies. I was completely screwed… Why didn't I just end it all now? What was the point of playing a game you knew you were going to lose?

**District Seven:**

**Jacquie's POV:**

I stepped out of the shower, and walked over to the mirror. I ran the towel through my brown hair, and tried to dry it quickly. I didn't know when dinner was ready, but it was going to be soon. I opened one side of the huge cabinet, and found mounds upon mounds of different cosmetics. Back home, we could never afford lipstick, let alone all this stuff.

I let out a little chuckle at myself. I had only been away from District Seven for a few hours, and I was already referring to it as if it was across the galaxy. I decided to mess around, and actually try to learn what you did with this plethora of cosmetics. Let's just say when I was done, I decided I would definitely leave this job to the prep team. I washed my face clean of all the cosmetics, and walked into my bedroom.

I scrounged around for a 'nice' outfit, and found a simple black dress. I slipped into it, and it went right down to my knees. How the Capital got clothes that fit me almost perfectly I had no idea. The Capital just seemed to know everything.

I stepped into the hallway, and began my walk towards the dining area. I found myself looking at all the decorative art hung on the walls. Some were extremely bright and colorful, while others were plain black and white. No matter the color scheme or theme, everything was beautiful.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted off my feet, and pulled into a room. The door slammed shut, and I went tumbling to the floor. I looked around, and I realized I was in a simple storage room. It was fairly large, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were completely metal. No windows in sight, and if there were actually windows, they were hidden behind the stacks and stacks of crates.

I quickly got to my feet, and glared at the person who dragged me in here.

"What do you want, Lucian?" I asked sharply.

"Well, that is a question that has many answers," He replied cryptically.

"Fine, then why did you drag me in here?" I asked firmly. Even though I refused to show it, this man terrified me. Even though he was a year younger than me, he was far stronger and much more intimidating in stature. Plus, he was completely insane.

"To finish what I started," he smiled coyly.

"What are you _talking_ about!" I huffed.

"You're about to find out!" He laughed. His laugh was a low chuckle, far different from the one at the Reapings. For a split second, I thought maybe he wasn't crazy, and it was all one big act for sponsors. Then I saw him pull out a silver letter opener.

"Lucian…" I spoke calmly as I began to back away.

"Jacquie," he replied just as calmly as he advanced towards me.

"What are you going to do with that…" I whispered.

"I think you already know, my dearest cherub," Lucian laughed. This time, his laugher was louder, and definitely more mentally unstable.

"If I did something to offend you… I'm sorry!" I stuttered out.

"You shouldn't have run… That day, you made the decision that would make sure I ended your life…"

This guy was just speaking gibberish! "What are you talking about!"

"So you really don't remember…" he muttered to himself. He looked at me with fire in his eyes, and yelled out, "I'll give you three seconds to run. After that, the hunt begins!"

"What…"

"You had better stop asking questions, and just _do what you're told! One!" _he screamed out.

I decided that using logic here was not my best option. You couldn't reason with a psychopath. I spun around, and sprinted towards a stack of crates. I really shouldn't have worn high heels…

"_Two!_"

I dove behind the crates, and kept running towards the back of the storage room. Hopefully, he would chase me, and I could make a loop for the exit.

"_Three!_"

Where the hell were my mentors when I actually needed them! I was stuck playing hide and kill with a psychotic freak. Was I… was I going to die before the Hunger Games even started?

I stood behind a stack of crates, and tried to quiet my breathing. The entire room was silent. Only a few seconds prior, it was filled with his maniacal laughter, and now it was far too quiet. He was hunting, and he was as silent as a mouse.

I looked around for some sort of weapon I could use. Of course, there was nothing except crate after crate, and I knew I couldn't pick one of those up. Suddenly, I heard his footsteps getting closer and closer. I held my breath, and looked from my right to my left. His footsteps were gone, and I had no idea where he was.

Wait… I did have a weapon. I quickly grabbed for it, and slipped it off. I gripped it in my hand for dear life, and continued to look around. I tried counting to ten. I tried every calming thing I could think of. I swear, he could hear my heart it was beating so loudly.

"Peek-a-boo!" He yelled out. I looked up to see him on top of the stack of crates, weapon in hand. I raised my weapon, and jabbed it right into his eye. He let out a howl of pain, and fell down. Whoever said high heels weren't useful? I quickly grabbed the other high heel, and threw it at him for good measure. I then leapt over his body, and sprinted back the way I came.

Finally, the door was in sight and I let out a sigh of relief. I was about ten feet away from it when I felt it come crashing into my body. I fell to the ground with a shriek, and saw the splinters of wood surrounding me. I rolled over, and tried to get up. However, Lucian was on top of me in seconds.

He forced me down with only one hand, and I struggled against him. He held the letter opener above my face tauntingly. He traced it over my scar, and I swatted his hand away.

"Don't. Touch. That." I spat.

"Why?" he breathed on me. His breath was warm, and putrid. Yet, it felt so familiar. Something in my brain clicked. I had felt that before. The warm breath that seemed disgusting and humid. I had felt it on my face before… somewhere. I felt my brain beginning to work, and it felt like I was unlocking a vault.

However, right when I was about to open it, the vault slammed shut and the key was thrown far away. The reason was because the door opened, and both of us looked over to see Beth and Streak standing there, shocked. I saw Lucian quickly slide the pocket opener away.

Attacking another tribute was punishable, but right now it didn't look like he was attacking me at all. My dress was hitched up to my upper thigh, and he looked extremely disheveled. To our mentors, it looked like we were just about to do the dirty deed, instead of it looking like he was just about to kill me.

"When you didn't show up at dinner, I was so worried! But, obviously, you two are just fine," Beth laughed, "Good for you! Getting to know each other so much better before we even asked if you wanted to ally with each other!"

Lucian scrambled off of me, and pulled me off my feet. He slung his arm around me in a casual manner. "Well, what can I say? She's irresistible."

Streak still looked dumbfounded, and I just shook my head in disgust. I slid out of his embrace, and glared at him. "And you're a pig."

"Well, come on, time for dinner you two!" Beth laughed. Part of me wanted to tell them what really happened, but I knew it wouldn't work. It was my word against him, and even if I found the letter opener, there was no proof that it wasn't just here in storage to begin with.

We walked out the door, and Lucian pulled me close one more time. "I will kill you," he whispered. His warm, putrid breath tickled my ear and I shuddered. Lucian let out a loud, psychotic laugh, and just walked ahead of me. He continued to laugh, and all I could think was where did I remember him from? All of this seemed so… familiar…

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

I sat down to watch the Reapings recap, and let out a loud yawn. Today had been a long day, and all I wanted to do was go to sleep in a soft, comfy bed. Did I think that all of this was over the top? Oh yes. Was I going to refuse to use it and live without any comfort for the next week? Heck no! I had never had any of these luxuries, and if I was going to die, than I was going to die like royalty!

"Oooaaaahhhh," Kairi moaned as Lorie dumped her in one of the arm chairs. Lorie wiped her hands on her dress, as if she might possibly catch whatever Kairi had. I rolled my eyes, and tried not to go slap Lorie right across the face.

I glanced at Kairi, and noticed her unfocused gaze. I really felt bad for her. She probably had no idea what was going on. She had no idea that in a matter of days she was going to _die_. I quickly banished the thought from my mind. Pity was a weakness. I couldn't go around pitying every weak tribute, otherwise I'd probably become so depressed I'd just end up killing myself!

"Now, I want everyone coherent to tell me what they think of the tributes at the end." Lorie announced. She gave another disgusted look at Kairi before she flipped on the television.

District One was written across the screen in beautiful golden script. It shimmered away to be replaced by the recording of the Reapings. The female tribute, Cami, was extremely cocky. She had an attitude, and a goal to win. I had a feeling she was going to use everything and _everyone_ to claw her way to victor. Her partner, Stark, was far calmer, and oddly enough no one volunteered for him. I was about to write him off as a weakling, when observed them walking to the Justice Building. Cami walked with a very loud, almost hop, in her step. I expected Stark to shuffle his feet like a weakling or potential bloodbath would, but instead he had the same stride as I had. The stride of a thief. Both tributes from District One were forces to be reckoned with, and I could tell both of them would play a huge part in the strategic part of this year's Hunger Games.

District Two flashed across the screen in cold, marble script before I crumbled away. A girl was Reaped,, and I immediately began to analyze her. She was small, but I knew immediately she was trained because of the small smirk spread across her face. However, someone else soon volunteered for her. A tall, black woman trampled up onto the stage. She had absolutely no grace, and I knew she was definitely no pretty flower. She had muscles bulging all along her arms and legs, and she had a determined look on her face that sent chills down my spine. She was surely going to be the one Career to outlast all the others based on her pure strength, endurance, and will to fight. Of course, sometimes strategy got Careers farther than brawns ever could.

A small boy was reaped, and I didn't even bother analyzing him. He was soon to be replaced by a Career. Of course, someone volunteered, but I was quiet surprised by the replacement. District Two usually sent out tributes that were just like Jordana. Strong, confident, and fighters. The boy who volunteered, Apollo, seemed to be all of those things, but in a different package. Even though he was taller than Jordana, his muscles were far more discreet, making him look smaller in comparison. He also had an eye patch on, which inferred that eye wasn't functional. Of course, it could all just be an act. While they walked away, all I could think of was why did Apollo keep a small smile on his the entire Reaping. He obviously knew something we didn't.

District Three appeared next in a flash of lightening, and quickly died away. Oddly enough, there was a female volunteer from District Three. Her name was Valhalla Smitz, and I knew immediately I should remember that name. It wasn't her stature that was intimidating, but her _eyes_. Most tributes wouldn't notice it. Most tributes would see her size, and then just write her off as a bloodbath. However, when you looked into her electric blue eyes, all I saw was a mixture between a cold calculating mind, and a lust for blood. When you mix those two things together, along with the fact most will underestimate her, you had quite a competitor.

The male from District Three was reaped. His name was Thomas, and I didn't exactly know what to think about him. He seemed fairly smart, but also weak. Not necessarily physically, but also emotionally. While Valhalla stood there completely emotionless, Thomas looked like he was about ready to go kill himself before he even entered the Justice Building. When people that emotionally weak are thrust into the Hunger Games, it either results in a psychotic breakdown, or a bloodbath tribute.

District Four appeared in shimmering blue script, before it was washed away by a wave. The Capital's technology never ceased to amaze me… Anyways, a girl named Oceana was called up to the stage. I saw a few tears slide down her face, yet she had on an almost joyous smile. She wasn't the typical Career, but her body showed she was very physically fit. Oddly enough, no one volunteered for her. The thing was, I saw girls in the eighteen and seventeen year old section getting ready to volunteer, and as soon as her name was called out, all of them smirked and stopped looking so tense. Obviously, she wasn't well liked, and that peaked my curiosity. I was a very observant person, and when I couldn't figure out something, it tended to bother me to no end.

The next tribute was a male volunteer named Leith Tallen. He was the ideal Career. He was fairly good looking, and obviously very strong. He didn't have a lust for blood in his eyes like most Careers, but a cold, almost empty, look in his eyes. He was exactly what the Capital women wanted. Something so beautiful, yet they could never have him because of how emotionless he seemed. Of course, looks could be deceiving, and I could definitely see some woman breaking through his wall. Anyways, both of the tributes were strong, yet they both seemed to be broken in different ways.

The District Five Reapings were next, and a small, blonde girl was Reaped. Her name was Winnifred, and she seemed like a complete ditz. Her gaze was fairly unfocused, and she didn't even seem to notice that she had just been chosen to go die in an arena full of bloodthirsty tributes and mutts. Still, I had learned over the years in District Nine that everyone was strong in some way. Everyone was always a threat in some way, whether they appeared to be intimidating or not.

The male tribute was named Admyer, and he was also fairly hard to get a good read on. He looked almost sick appearance wise, and he had no visible muscles anywhere. Still, the one thing I noticed about him was his hands. He moved them up to his face once to rub his eye, and when he moved it back down, I saw calluses across them. Even though he looked like he was about ready to kick the bucket, he has obviously been working a good chunk of his life, which meant he was most likely not ill at all.

The District Six Reapings were immediately after that. An… interesting… girl was reaped. Her name was Lucy, and something about the entire situation seemed _off_. When she was reaped, there were no cries of sorrow or surprise. Instead, it seemed as if the crowd was confused. As if she had no friends… but even those tributes had some sort of reaction. The crowd was never confused during Reapings. Still, she seemed brave, and fairly optimistic. However, I was going to steer clear of her just as I would the Careers. I had learned to follow my gut over the years, and it had saved my life many times. Hopefully, this was one of those.

The male tribute's name was Adam, and he definitely made Leith appear downright homely. He wasn't unbelievably gorgeous, but it was enough that he would get more Capital women to sponsor him on his looks than those who supported Leith just on his appearance. Also, another surprising thing I noticed was that he was fairly muscular. He appeared to be a bit of rich boy, which meant he spent some of his free time doing physical activities. This automatically put him on my 'to watch' list, because who knows what skills he has gotten over the years from whatever he does to get so strong.

District Seven's name appeared in a wooden texture, before it was chopped away by a giant axe. The female tribute that was reaped was named Jacquie, and the first thing I noticed was her face. She had one giant scar running from the top of her head, diagonally down to the bottom. At first, I thought maybe it was an animal mark, but then I noticed it was far too straight and precise to be a wild animal's claw mark. Perhaps she came from some abusive home. Right when I was about to analyze her further, a loud laugh rung throughout the town square. I continued to laugh, as if it was possessed.

Eventually, the escort fought through the noise and reaped the male tribute. The laughter got even louder, and soon the source of the laughter was walking to the stage. His name was Lucian, and at first he appeared quite normal. He had the body of the typical District Seven lumberjack, but once you saw his eyes you knew something was wrong. There was a spark in them that wasn't normal. Matching that, with his laughter, I honestly thought he was demon possessed. Again, I was staying away from him just like I would any Career. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he ended up joining the Careers.

District Eight's Reapings were next. The female reaped was just stunning. Her name was Asita, and she had an almost exotic beauty about her. Her dark brown skin, matched with her dark brown hair and extremely desirable body would make any man swoon. She sashayed to the stage, and once she made it there she stood in a way that gave us a good view of her 'merchandise'. I automatically wrote her down on my list to watch out for. Although it was obvious she was not physically a threat, she did know how to use her body and beauty, which meant that she had a brain in that pretty little head of hers. She had a strategy, and she was probably going to take a good chunk of the sponsors away from other tributes.

The male tribute from District Eight was called Lyric. The first I noted about him was his outfit. It was definitely one of the finer ones, and it was much more expressive than his District Partner's outfit. He was obviously from a rich family, and had never worked a day in his life. I wanted to write him off as a bloodbath and move on, but one thing I knew was to never just 'write' someone off as weak. It usually came back to bite you on the butt. The only thing I could see that was promising about him was the fact he came from a rich family, which meant he was most likely fairly well educated. Maybe he would surprise me later on, but for now I would just have to leave it at that and move on.

Our Reapings were played, and I completely blanked out. Kairi was obviously mentally ill, and I appeared to be weak, but wiry. Other tributes would see me as the guy who was probably fairly fast, which I was. Thankfully, there was no possible way for them to see my other talents…

The female reaped from District Ten definitely had me thinking immediately. When her name, Charlotte, was called out, she giggled her way to the stage. Her appearance would say she was a tom boy. She was in an outfit meant for farm work, and she was fairly tall and had discreet muscles. Yet, her stride and stance wasn't that of some like Jordana from District Two. She stood much like Asita. Not seductively, but how typical 'girly' women stood. She seemed to have a feminine side about her, even though she was dressed just like a tom boy. I could tell already she was a complex individual that I would have a tough time reading, which not only intrigued me but aggravated me.

The male from District Ten was named Davis. He was only twelve, and practically sobbed his way to the stage. In all honesty, I couldn't find one noticeable thing about him that made me possibly think he would survive the bloodbath. Perhaps he might be fast and light because of his age, but that was hypothetical. He looked weak, and for once, that might actually mean he was weak.

District Eleven was fairly surprising. The girl reaped was called Sage, and my interest in her was peaked fairly quickly. She was shaking, and her eyes were constantly flitting around. Her bone structure and framework reminded me of that of a bird, and even her stance looked flighty. However, even through all that, she appeared to be strong, only trembling slightly. She was obviously fast, but also looked physically weak. I had a feeling she would be hard to catch in the arena, not necessarily just on her speed, but also her wit.

Her District partner was named Scarlett, and he was a boy of thirteen. However, when you compared him to Davis from only a few minutes ago, you automatically saw the difference. He had this look in his eyes… the same look Valhalla from District Three had. It was a mixture of a cold, calculating mind, and possible lust for blood. However, his actions conflicted with what I observed, because he scooted extremely close to Sage, and held her hand like it was a life raft. Suddenly, I knew I had to watch out for him. Perhaps Asita wasn't the only one who was going to use their appearance and stature to further themselves in the games this year…

Usually, District Twelve was almost pitiful to watch. However, this year, Ruth made it quite entertaining. When she was reaped, she looked like she was about to have a tantrum and stomped up to the stage. The one thing I noticed about her before she made it up there was that her steps were fairly precise. She had the stride of either a dancer, or a fighter, and in seconds I knew which one was the right guess. She literally punched a Peacekeeper, and knocked him out.

Her District Partner, Devon, was definitely outshined by Ruth. However, I still found some time to quickly analyze him. He wasn't intimidating in stature, nor did he seem built in a certain way to suggest some physical skill. However, I noticed him quickly wringing his hands. He was fidgeting with them in such a fast, and complex way that I knew he must work with his hands a lot. Whether that meant he did physical work, or sold things in a store, or was a conman, I had no idea.

District Thirteen peaked my interest most of all. Not necessarily because of the tributes, but because I had never seen District Thirteen before. Heck, no one alive had, except the President and possibly the Capital. The female tribute, Ayla, was small in stature. However, as she made her way to the stage, she walked in such a way that suggested she was light on her feet. If you mixed that with a weapon of some sort, she was definitely dangerous.

Her District partner, Alexei, was definitely strong. He had muscles that were around the same size as Leith's, and he had a confident air about him. I knew the second I saw him he had trained. There was no other explanation for the other facts. However, that made me wonder, did Ayla train as well? Did the entire District train? The sad thing was, no one knew anything about District Thirteen. This year, these two tributes would set the standards of that District for the rest of eternity. No pressure or anything…

The Reaping were over, and all I could say was wow. Winning the games this year wasn't going to be easy, but I really didn't have any other option… It was either fight, or die… and I think you all know what option I was going to choose.

**Review! Finished my last final today, and I decided to celebrate by typing six thousand words haha Anyways, I put up a poll on my profile, so go vote now! So yeah, pretty much all I have to say is vote on the poll and review! So glad the Reapings are over! **


	18. Train Rides: Part Two

**A/N: You will see 'District One' here twice, but just remember Agatha is a District One mentor, but is mentoring District Eight because all victors are dead from that District.**

**Train Rides:**

**Part Two:**

**District One:**

**Rouge's POV:**

"You ready to go 'officially' meet the tributes?" Copper asked me.

We were standing right outside the room both our tributes were awaiting us. We had boarded the train around twenty minutes ago, and I could already tell they both wanted to talk strategy with their mentor and probably find out whether we were worth listening to. I remember… wow, could it have only been one year ago… when I was analyzing Agatha, trying to figure out whether she was senile or not. It wasn't until after the Chariot Rides I began to realize how smart she really was. Any tribute mentored by her was a lucky one, that's for sure.

"How do you… _do _this? Do you try to get to know them? Do you just get straight to the point? What?" I asked in a flurry of words.

"You do what your 'persona' would do. Remember, everyone thinks you are a beautiful temptress, actress, and diplomat. Plus, everyone knows how good you are with a bow. Most likely, you would try to get to know your tributes better. Either that, or be a snarky bitch," Copper explained.

"But that's not what I would do. If I did what I wanted to do, I would simply wish them good luck, and go curl up in a ball and die." I whined.

"We have to act how the Capitol wants us to act. You know, as well as I, that we have no say in what we ever want to do," Copper hisses so softly that no one but me could hear it. I've learned fairly recently even the walls have ears. I tugged down on my short dress, and sighed. The Capitol even decided what you would wear. My entire closet on this train was filled with skimpy outfits.

"Let's just get this over with," I moaned. I closed my eyes, and quickly put on a small, almost cocky smirk. I tousled my blonde hair a bit, and even changed how I held myself. When I opened my eyes, I just saw Copper staring at me.

"I'll never know how you can do that. Just change yourself in a matter of seconds."

"It's called acting, my dear friend. You should try it some time," I quipped as I opened the door and strode in.

Stark, who was leaning against a wall, stood up straighter and seemed more attentive. Camilla, on the other hand, continued to sit in her chair and just smirked at me. "Stark, come with me. We'll go talk somewhere else," Copper barked. He went back the way he came, and Stark passed by me in a fairly graceful stride. Huh, that kid didn't seem to be a dancer… I'd know, I've been doing ballet for years.

"Are you going to sit down?" Camilla asked.

"Of course," I replied. I took a seat across from her, and began to analyze her. In certain ways, she reminded me of myself. She was intelligent, and I could see her analyzing me as well. She looked like the type of girl who used people, and once she was done with them left them high and dry. She still had her cocky smirk on her face. Besides being smart, she was the typical Career… And I _hated_ the typical Careers.

"Tell me a little about yourself, Camilla." I asked nonchalantly. I wanted to see how she answered because it would show what she was oriented towards. For example, if she talked about her home life she was obviously family oriented.

"First of all, it's Cami. Second, I've been training for a very long time, and I've tried to become skilled with all weapons, since you never know what will be handed to you in the arena. I'll never know how you can use a bow, since the only weapons I can really use are melee ones."

"Everyone has their own talents," I said vaguely.

"I'm also fairly quick, and I've memorized most, if not all, pressure points on the human body." Camilla said proudly.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Are you saying that's not enough?" Camilla hissed.

"Where ever would you get that notion?" I tried to say as seriously as I could. I may be diplomatic in some situations, but when it came to people I disliked, it tended to come through any sort of acting or charade I had going on.

"Like you could do better," Camilla laughed.

"Well, _Camilla_," I hissed, "I'm also very intelligent and agile. I've been dancing since a very young age, and it's kept up my endurance and speed. I can snipe tributes off before they even notice me with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Also, I'm beautiful. And no, that's not a vain thing to say, it's just a fact. So, in conclusion, I can do better than you, and I already have. I won the Hunger Games, and you haven't. So I suggest, you listen to me, or you'll end up dead and forgotten just like all the other dead tributes."

Camilla's face was completely shocked. My 'sharp tongue', as my older sister called it, was not exactly known by everyone. A good chunk of people assumed that since I was pretty, I couldn't formulate an intelligent sentence. Well, they were usually rudely awakened. Camilla was one of those people.

"Okay, I do realize you've won the Hunger Games, and that I need to work on my respect for others a little bit. Let's try this again. What advice do you have for me, since now you know my… skill set?" Camilla phrased carefully. She was starting to realize pissing off your mentor was not a good idea. In some ways, we were essential to a tribute's survival. Why did you think I was stressed about talking to my first tribute ever only a few minutes ago? Well, suffice to say, I don't necessarily care what happens to Camilla.

"Well, as you know, I didn't join the Careers. Frankly, because I knew I could make it on my own. Sadly, Camilla, you cannot. You need to join the Careers, and you need to control them. I can tell you're intelligent… In fact, you are probably just as, maybe even more, intelligent than I am. If you put that to use, you can win these games easily." I stated.

"How?"

"Alex's Elite Career Pack last year didn't… end happily for anyone. You need to make sure you have at least six Career members. More would be better, and the maximum should be eight or nine. Once you have a group that big, it's easy to divert the attention away from yourself by either causing mischief in the pack, spreading lies and rumors, or possibly purposefully placing certain people in the Career pack that despise each other. The best thing is if it was some long last drama. That way, there is no time to think about ditching the pack, or mutiny. The worst thing that can happen is if they kill each other, and then there is no more drama." I explained.

"I do enjoy causing mischief. Plus, it's not a bad thing if some blood is spilled, especially if I cause the spilling." Camilla smirked.

I sighed, and leaned forward a bit. "Listen, Camilla, it's obvious we are very different people, and we don't exactly get along. In fact, I know neither of us cares what happens to the other. However, you are still my tribute, and I'm going to try as hard as I can to get you back home. All I ask is that you listen to me, respect me, and _not_ add in disgusting comments."

"You don't like blood?" Camilla asked mockingly, "You did kill over ten people."

"I didn't kill them because I liked it. I killed them so my brother could survive." I whispered.

"Yeah, and look how that turned out," Camilla murmured.

"Shut _up_, you little brat!"

"Or what, you'll call one of your lovers and have them send someone to kill me?" she mocked. If only she realized they weren't lovers… If only she realized the price some victors had to pay… How some of us had to use our bodies to _please_ the Capitol.

I looked at her again, and realized I had just been duped. She used me to get the best strategy she could use. Now, she had nothing left that she wanted from me. She didn't' even care if I controlled her sponsors. She probably thought she could live without them. The point was that she did what she was best at. Giving you what you want, then taking what she wanted, and going back to being a bitch. Well, two can play at that game.

"No, I'll make sure they send someone to your house. You have a sister, and parents I suspect?"

I knew I hit a nerve when I saw her twitch a little when I said parents.

I just laughed, "Don't want mommy and daddy brought into this?"

"No," she muttered.

"Well, you know what, you brought over ten people I killed, a bunch of people I hate, and my brother into this. Perhaps I should bring your family into it as well. Let me guess, you have a father who trained you, and a submissive mother?" I asked.

"I'm done with this," Camilla said as she stood up.

"Oh, so you don't have a father? Or, perhaps, a mother?" I asked with a sneer across my face.

"You don't know anything about my family!" Camilla yelled. She got right in my face, and I just laughed.

"You're right, I don't. So don't you _dare_ pretend to know anything about my personal life!" I spat. She looked as if someone had just slapped her in the face.

Oh wait, that's right, I just did.

She held both her hands to the left side of her face in shock. "You know, I've gone through a lot in the past year. I've lost a lot, and I've gained a little. However, losing someone you love dearly, and then having their child after they're dead really does make you grow up. You have about a week to grow up, or I promise you that you'll die in the arena. Find some humility, and don't let your arrogance get you killed. That's my last advice to you, because I doubt there is anything else I could teach you that you _think_ you already know."

I walked right past her, and out of the cart. I _hated_ her. She thought that since she was only two years younger than me, that she was of the same level as me.

Stark passed me as I walked down the hallway, and I gave him a curt nod. I walked into Copper's bedroom, and I just saw him with his mouth hung open in shock.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Rouge," Copper began, "If Stark plays his cards right, we might have another victor from District One this year."

I just let out a small laugh, "As long as you're not referring to Camilla, I'm absolutely ecstatic."

**District Four:**

**Ethan's POV:**

"Oh dear Panem," Crescent yelled as she collapsed into a chair.

"You could say that again," I murmured.

So far, things weren't exactly going well with our tributes. Leith was an emotionless robot, while Oceana never stopped smiling. They were both putting up walls, and neither Crescent nor I knew how to get through to them.

"Should we just wait for them to come around?" Crescent asked, "or should we confront them?"

"They have a right to keep things hidden from us," I added.

Crescent let out a little huff, and stood up. She started pacing, and ranting, "They may have the right to not tell us things, but it will end up getting them killed in the end!"

"Well, what do you suggest we do then?" I asked impatiently.

"I don't know! You're the smart one!" She hissed.

"Since when!" I yelled back.

"Since… since…. I don't know, just think of something!" Crescent screeched.

"We should give them something…" I said.

"Oh yeah, let's buy their trust. Great idea there, buddy." Crescent mocked.

Sometimes, I really wished Crescent was a little nicer, and smarter. I loved her to death, but there were times I just wanted to strangle her to death just so I could get a few moments of silence. If only Alicia was here… she would know what to do. She always had that gift of gaining people's trust in minutes. I guess it was just her demeanor. Sadly, she isn't a Hunger Games victor, only the wife of one. I wish Hunger Games victors could bring their spouses with them on these 'trips'. I always missed her so much.

"You know what? I think I'll just go talk to them. It's just the easiest way to solve this problem." I decided.

"Be my guest," Crescent murmured, motioning toward the door.

"Always the diva," I said on my way out. I slammed the door shut before I could hear her say some snarky comment.

I walked down the hallway, and glanced about. They were probably in their rooms by now. I continued to walk down the hallway until I suddenly heard voices. I flattened myself against the wall, and peered around the corner. Oceana and Leith were sitting side by side on the couch in the television room. I stepped a little closer, and started eavesdropping. Hey, if it's the only way I can get to know them, then I had to do it.

"Are you going to miss District Four?" Oceana asked quietly.

"Nope. What about you?"

"Not particularly."

"Another thing we have in common," Leith said in a way that made me think he was actually attempting to use humor.

"Well, I will miss my family… Or, at least, some members of it." Oceana commented.

"That makes two of us."

"The people in District Four can be so nice at times, and then if you do one wrong thing they hate you for all eternity." Oceana murmured.

"Yeah, some of the rumors about you make you sound… evil, but you seem alright to me." Leith complimented.

"I've heard you're a cold hearted psychopath, but you seem 'alright' to me as well." Ocean smiled.

I heard Leith let out a small guffaw, and I was shocked. Who would have thought either of these two would get along with each other.

"Well, I guess I'm not as cold hearted as I like to think… I _am_ still human," Leith commented.

"Then why act so cold hearted?"

"To keep people away."

"Well, you're sitting next to the witch of District Four and having a friendly conversation. How is that whole act working for you?" Oceana laughed.

"Not so well." Leith said with a little joy in his voice. There was a few seconds of silence before Leith spoke back up.

"What about you? What exactly happened that gave you such a bad reputation?" Leith asked.

"You've heard the rumors. I think you know the answer." Oceana said solemnly.

"Well, I'm asking you. Whatever you tell me, I'll believe." Leith said earnestly.

Another few seconds of silence before I heard a small sniffle. "You know, in the past few years, not a single person has asked me about what happened. They all just… listened to whatever they heard from the person beside them and took it as truth."

"I've never held anything against you. Everyone does stupid things, and everyone screws up. Why would I hate someone I don't even know?" Leith reasoned.

"It… It means a lot to me that you would say that." Oceana says. Her voice cracks a little bit, and I can tell that she must be crying. During the silence, a phrase I remember hearing in District Four comes to mind.

_Two broken pieces can always form and create one new, beautiful, better piece._

I never really understood that phrase, because I was never broken. When my parents were drunk idiots, it only made me stronger. When I killed in the Hunger Games, I just learned from it. When my closest friend and ally died, I moved on and became a better person. I've never been broken by an event.

These two tributes have been broken, and I can tell they are forming to create something beautiful. Something that can last through the entire games. They are forming a friendship, and an alliance. Although these can cause great heartache in the games, they also can get a tribute very far.

"You want to know the entire story?" Oceana whispered.

"Yes," Leith replied.

"Okay... Well…"

"Where in carnations is everyone!" Lily screamed out. I glanced to my left, and saw Lily charging down the hallway. I made the 'shushing' gesture to her, but she obviously was a few brain cells to short. "What Ethan? What's going on?"

"Why is everyone yelling!" Crescent screamed as she charged down the hallways after Lily, "I was just about to fall asleep when I heard your dingbat screeching from my room!"

"Excuse me, who are you calling a dingbat!" Lily yelled at Crescent. I glanced to my right, and saw both Oceana and Leith peering out of the television room. It was obvious by how close I was standing to the door that I was eavesdropping. I felt myself turn bright red, and I looked away. Well, I guess I wasn't finding out Oceana's past anytime soon.

"Who do you think, you seaweed haired Scylla!"

"Take that back you less glamorous knock off of a slutty District One tribute!"

Crescent let out an angry howl and dove straight for Lily. She tackled her to the ground, and Lily wrapped her hands in Crescent's hair. They both rolled past me down the hallway, screeching and tugging. I even saw some blood splattered across the cream colored carpet.

"So… who's ready for dinner?" I asked.

**District One:**

**Agatha's POV:**

After mentoring for almost sixty years, I had never mentored anyone that wasn't from District One. I had never mentored someone from a Non-Career District. Now, I was suddenly mentoring District Eight, which was definitely one of the weakest Districts. I hobbled down the hallway, and entered my room. This year, I would be mentoring Asita Chaya. So far, the only trait she has exhibited that might help her is her beauty, and her charm. However, that can only get someone so far in the Hunger Games.

The other tribute, Lyric Kane, was still a mystery to me. He was the son of a wealthy family, that much I could tell by his reaping outfit, and he seemed very fragile. However, he had this aura about him that radiated that he wasn't going down without a fight. Let's just say it was enough of an aura that I would rather mentor him than Miss Chaya.

Of course, my fellow mentor this year was an idiot. Clinton was… special. He was a very handsome young man and he also looked very masculine. He was all man, and no boy. The only thing that he had was his impish, almost childish, smile. All of this was wonderful, until you got to know him. It's not that he was mean or evil, he was just very self-centered. Everything he did, it was always about him. What made _him _happy. Of course, what else could you expect from someone from District One?

I let out a heavy sigh, and rummaged through my dresser. I found a purple shawl, and threw it over my dress. I grabbed my mahogany cane, and made my way from my room. We had already eaten dinner, and it was almost time for the Reaping Recaps. However, I still hadn't talked to Miss Chaya. Last time I saw her, she was talking to our escort in the dining area. I made my way to the dining cart. God, I hated being old. It made traveling take so much longer.

I walked in, and I saw Muffy having a conversation with Lyric.

"Where is Asita?" I croaked out.

"I don't know. she left a half hour or so ago." Muffy said.

I nodded my head in thanks, and left the room. Let's see, I guess the best place was to check her room. I made my way back the way I came, and let out an undignified huff. I hated wasting valuable time and energy walking to places I didn't even have to go to. Eventually, I made it to my room, and sighed. There was such a long walk to her room. Perhaps I could just talk to her later…

The door to Clinton's room slammed open, and Miss Asita came strutting out. I felt my brow furrow. What in the dickens….

Right behind her, Clinton showed up, and I rolled my eyes. Oh, this is just perfect. Asita looked at me with a small smile playing on her lips. Clinton looked shocked that I was standing right here in the hallway. You'd think I would be the one with the shocked expression, since Clinton was standing before me with only his underwear on, covered in sweat, and red lipstick covered a good majority of his body.

"I think I'll take care of my tribute from here," I hissed.

Clinton just nodded and slammed the door in our faces. Asita let out a small chuckle, and I shot her a dirty look. "You think this is funny?"

"Maybe a little," She smiled.

"My room, now," I croaked out.

She shrugged her shoulders, and made her way into my room. She stepped in front of the floor length mirror, and started primping herself. I shut the door behind us, and locked it.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked.

"Playing the Hunger Games," she said. I looked at her again, and I noticed something different. Her flirtatious, almost smug, smile was gone, and now all I saw was a solemn expression.

"Explain," I barked.

"Simple. I'm hot, and so is Clinton. Clinton is Lyric's mentor. I offered him free sex as much as he wanted before the Hunger Games began, and all he had to do was send all sponsor money my way and help me in the arena over Lyric. The pleasurable sex for me as well was only a bonus."

I felt my jaw drop. Perhaps there was more to this girl than just a whore.

"Well, you certainly thought that out." I sputtered.

"If I'm going to lose, than I'm going to lose knowing I did everything I could to win," she hissed. She turned towards me, and for the first time I saw something different about her. She was more than just a slut. She was a survivor. Maybe I could mentor this girl.

"Do you have a plan for the arena?" I asked.

"Yes, seduce a stupid guy into thinking I love him, and then having him protect me."

I let out a loud, harsh laugh. Asita glared at me, and I motioned for her to sit. She did, and continued to frown at me.

"First of all, don't seduce a stupid man. If he's stupid, than you would be better off on your own. Stupid people get you killed in the arena. Remember that." I chided.

"Well, than what is your plan." Asita asked, obviously defensive.

"I won my games at the age of fourteen by sticking with the Careers. I acted all sweet and innocent, when I really was just as much of a killer as them."

"What's your point?"

"If you're going to seduce a male into protecting you, than seduce a Career. Then, not only will he be very good at fighting, but you most likely will have an entire pack defending you. Just make sure to pick the right one, because the wrong guy and you very well might be laughed at and then killed." I explained.

"What if none of them are the right guy?"

"Then you had better learn to use some sort of weapon and pray you make it past the bloodbath," I smiled.

"So, pretty much, give him no choice but to love me. So, I just got to be his dream girl. Whether that means being a seductive temptress, an innocent girl, or a flirty tease, I got to make one of those Career boys love me…" she whispered.

"Now you're learning." I smiled.

"I think I like you," Asita smiled, "Be proud, most girls don't get to hear those words leave my mouth."

"I think you're intelligent, and most people don't get to hear _those_ words leave my mouth." I smiled. I had a feeling that I was going to mentor two victors in a row...

**District Twelve:**

**Ophelia's POV:**

I sank into the couch, and let out a big yawn. Today had been exhausting, and almost heartbreaking. Last year, I mentored my daughter. It was one of the easiest things, mentoring someone you knew almost better than yourself. However, it was also filled with worrying and dread. She died, and so did my son. That made this year even harder than last year. I was expected to mentor someone, even though I was still grieving over the loss of my only children.

I looked over at Ruth, and noted how she was staring at the television intently. She couldn't wait to see who her competition was. She was definitely a strong girl, but smart… that was debatable. Of course, I shouldn't be talking. I certainly didn't win my games by being smart. I just knew things about flowers because I was the daughter of a florist.

I looked over at Devon. I didn't know what to think of him yet. He was a Seam kid, yet he almost acted a little bit like a merchant child. Not because he was pampered or prissy, but because he had this logical, business like mind. Then, to add to the threat, he had this charismatic trait. Our escort, Fiyero, just adored Devon, as did Cody. I, personally, believed Ruth had a better shot of winning, but it didn't matter at the end of the day. Ruth and Devon were friends, which meant they would be allies. This was quite good for us, because all of us got to work together as a team.

Fiyero flipped on the television, and I tried to pay attention to the best of my ability. Except, this time, it was different, Instead of seeing the possible threats, I just saw the weaklings. I saw the children whose parents would never see them again. I saw my daughter and son in each and every one of them. Reaping after reaping, I became angrier. Anger at the Capitol. Anger at Panem. Anger at life. The biggest anger was that at the Hunger Games. The thing that took away everything I ever loved.

By the time we got to the District Nine Reapings, I was furious. Then when I saw the small, mentally challenged girl, I flipped my lid. I stood up, and stomped out of the room. I could hear Cody yelling behind me, but I just kept walking away. Eventually, my walking turned to jogging, which then turned into sprinting. I knew what most people were thinking. There goes middle aged Ophelia, what a nut job.

Well, if they had gone through what I have, they would be a little crazy too.

I finally stopped when I made it to the very back of the train. It had a little balcony, and I just glared at the ground that was zooming away. Part of me wanted to jump, but I knew there was a force field there. I had tried to kill myself a year ago. I almost succeeded, but then I remembered I was a survivor.

Here I was, wanting to do it again. Wanting to end it all and be with my family. It was unbearable to live in that big empty house. No husband, no children, no relatives. All dead… all because of one foolish mistake.

Well, now I had nothing to lose. President Raven, the Hunger Games, and the Capitol took everything away from me.

I was done.

I was done living under their rule. There have been whispers for awhile now. Not only are the District getting tired of President Raven, but so is the Capitol. There have been protestors in the Capitol. They try to keep it quiet, but all the victors know.

I think it's about time the victors joined the protest.

Two rebellions have failed. I'm starting to know why. Both rebellions were started outside the Capitol. No one can break through that impervious wall of strength. However, if we cause a rebellion within the Capitol, it will crumble.

Crumble into dust, just like it should have done centuries ago.

All I need are a few certain people. You see, the only upper hand I have is the victors. The people of the Capitol adore their victors. If I can get at least one victor that appeals to a certain group of Capitolians, then I can light the fire for the rebellion easily. All I would need is a stunt that no one would see coming. Some sort of act that says "we are just as strong as President Raven". A plan…

Then it hit me. The only way to show how powerful the people were was simple. Do something that has never been done before. All I had to do was get a few key people on my side, and it would be easy to pull of the stunt I had in mind…

**Okay, so sorry for how short this is. I'm leaving Wednesday for two weeks on vacation, and I'm super busy tomorrow. I hope this is good, and I was going to do way more, but whatever haha. Anywho, pleeeeeaaaaaasse review! There have been a few of you that haven't reviewed once since the story began, and I'm starting to think that you've just given up. Which is fine, but I'm sorry to say that doesn't bode well for your tribute… Did I just make a threat… Well, depends on how you take it. So, on that lovely note, review!**


	19. Chariot Rides: Constant Craving

**Chariot Rides: Constant Craving**

**District Eleven:**

**Sage's POV:**

"Sage…" Scarlett murmured.

"Yes?" I asked. I turned my gaze from the window of the train that overlooked the Capitol to look at Scarlett. He appeared to be absolutely terrified. I felt pity rise up in my chest, but I quickly shoved it down. Showing him pity would only frighten him more.

"What exactly is going to happen to us… once we leave this train?"

"Nothing too awful, I imagine," I replied with as much joy as I could muster, "They are only going to make us look a little more presentable, that's all. We're only going to look a little more like them."

"But I don't want to look like them!" Scarlett screeched. I glanced at him again, and for the first time, I saw anger on his face instead of fear.

"Who said you had a choice," I sighed.

Scarlett jutted out his lip, furrowed his brow, and walked off to a nearby chair. He plopped down into it, and I had to hold back from giggling. Children could be the most entertaining things at times… Well, I was barely older than a child myself…

I tried to figure out why I liked Scarlett so much. Why I felt the need to protect him. Did it have to do with the fact that he reminded me of my little brother, or the fact that he was just so young? Maybe it was because Scarlett was the last link I had to District Eleven, and I couldn't even bear losing that last link I had to my family.

Of course, I still had my little brother's creation. The little God's eye he made me… My brother's name is Parsley. He's eleven… and I don't really get to see him that often. He has some sort of mental disease. I personally have no idea what it is, or what it's called, but the doctor's know. Still, because of it, he's been sent to a 'special school'. It's not in District Eleven, but I have a feeling it's not really a school at all. I'm not sure whether it's a hospital or worse… but what I do know is when he comes home, he seems more depressed and angry every time.

All I know is that I adore him, and because of it, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the young, innocent, and naïve. I've always wanted to help them, even if I'm not that much stronger than them at times. Most likely, I was going to die. I'm just being realistic. That's why I was going to get Scarlett as far as I could in these games. If I was going to die, I was going to die doing what I wanted…

"Are you two ready?" Celia asked as she strolled in with Ventre and Pablo behind her.

"Why wouldn't we be?" I asked her.

"Just checking, that's all. The train is going to stop in a matter of minutes, so I just want both of you to make the best impression you can." Celia smiled warmly.

"Do you have any advice?" Scarlett asked our mentors sweetly.

"Just do what you're told and you'll get through tonight fine," Ventre smiled.

"I'm a little worried, though… There's a new stylist for District Eleven, and I've heard weird rumors about him." Pablo said anxiously.

"What kind of rumors?" I asked, since he would be my stylist. They always matched male stylists and with female tributes and vice versa.

Before Pablo could answer my question, the train came to an abrupt halt. I stumbled a bit, and suddenly the door was thrown open. Flashes from hundreds of cameras blinded me.

"Go, go!" Celia hissed.

I could feel someone wrap their hand around mine, and I immediately knew it was Scarlett. I squeezed it for comfort. The comfort wasn't only for him, but for me as well.

We stepped into the sea of people, and made our way through. Questions were shouted out at us.

"How do you feel about your district partner?"

"What is your family situation like?"

"Any steaming romances back home?"

"Do you really eat your own feces and sleep in dens?"

That last question made me gasp and laugh at the same time. Seriously, they thought we were that _poor_? I mean, we were still human. We were still the ones that gave them all their agricultural products. They had better hope we didn't act that way, otherwise I had no idea why they would trust us with their food!

We eventually made it through the crowd in one piece, and into the Remake Center we went. Both of us stumbled in, and our mentors and escort came in after us.

"Chop chop, you two! I want you to go the eleventh floor. That's where your prep team should be waiting! All three of us will be in the stables making sure everything is working fine in the chariot and such." Celia explained.

She motioned for us to take a left down the hallway. We followed her direction, and soon came upon an elevator. Both of us stepped in, hit our number, and off we went.

We stepped off the elevator, and glanced around. Gosh, any one of these rooms could lead to our prep team!

"Right or left?" I asked.

"Uhm… definitely right," Scarlett smirked.

We continued to walk down the hallway, and soon we found two doors that had plaques on them. Each plaque had one of our names on it.

"Well, I guess this is it," I smiled. Right when I was about to turn the knob to my door, I heard someone let out a little whimper. My head spun to the right, and I saw a little boy standing at the end of the hallway.

"Hello?" I asked.

"I'm kind of lost…" the boy replied.

I turned my gaze back to Scarlett. "You go into your room. I'm going to go help him find his way back."

Suddenly, an annoyed expression appeared on Scarlett's face. "Let him find his own way back. It's his problem. _We_ have prep stuff to do."

"Scarlett," I reprimanded, "If it was you, would you rather me just leave you to fend for yourself?"

"I wouldn't be stupid enough to get lost," Scarlett replied quite snottily.

"Well, then you won't mind if I leave you on your own to fend for yourself for a couple of minutes while I help someone who actually needs it."

With that closing statement, I let go of Scarlett's hand, and began walking towards the little boy. I heard the door slam shut behind me, and I knew Scarlett was gone. What had gotten into that boy!

"Hey. What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Davis… from District Ten…" He whispered.

"Well, you're on the wrong floor!" I laughed.

"I must have miscounted the number of stories I went up…" He replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I had to go up the stairs."

"And why is that?"

"The District One girl said only Careers are allowed on elevators." Davis replied innocently.

I stared at him, surprised he was so easily tricked.

"Well, don't listen to her. She's just a sourpuss." I replied. I could vaguely remember her from the Reaping Recap, and I had a feeling my description of her was spot on. "Come on, I'll take you to your room."

I took Davis' hand, and off we went. Over the course of our walk to his room, I found out Davis was _twelve_. He was twelve… and so helpless…

"Davis," I said right before he went into his room.

"Yes?" he replied quickly.

I thought of Scarlett, and how pissed he might be, but then I thought screw it.

"Do you want to be part of my alliance?"

Davis' mouth formed a perfect 'O' and I just let out a small giggle. "You… You mean it?"

"Of course I do," I smiled.

"Then yes!" Davis cheered. He did a funny little jump before he shut the door. I let out another giggle when I heard a small thud. Most likely, he either fell over or knocked someone else down doing his happy dance.

I walked back to the elevator, and made my way back to my room. I opened the door, and walked in. The room was completely empty, except for a bunch of equipment in the middle of the room. Equipment I had never seen before.

"Hello?" I asked as I walked closer to the center of the room.

I heard a loud click, and spun around. Standing by the only door out of this room was, who I assumed, was my stylist. One word I would do to describe him was… unstable. He was hunched over a bit, and was wringing his hands as he stared at me. Besides that, he looked relatively normal.

"Where is my prep team?" I asked.

"Behind you, dear," he replied.

I glanced behind me to see a team of… doctors? They were clothed head to toe, and were now expecting their equipment.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The moment I saw you, I had an idea! I was never really into this whole 'styling' thing. In fact, I've always found it quite stupid. That's why I became a scientist. Still, when I saw you, your reminded me of something! Something I had to create! Something I had to tinker with! You see, I want to start a new trend for the Chariot Rides! I want to use you to make history! To make a tribute that has never been made before!"

Through his entire monologue, he inched closer and I inched farther away. Ventre told me to listen to my stylist, but what if he was crazy. I heard a small drilling noise, and didn't even dare to look behind me. Yeah, he was definitely insane.

"Look… uh…" I started.

"Garnett," he replied with a smile.

"Garnett," I smiled back, "Why don't you try this on next year's tribute?"

"No, no, no. It has to be you! You have the perfect body." He smiled. Oh gosh, how was any girl supposed to reply to that? Also, I had no idea what he was talking about. I did not have a great figure, nor was I very pretty. He was obviously seeing things that weren't really there.

"Well, before this starts, I have something to show you." I smiled. I reached into my pocket. He stepped a little closer, and I did something that 'normal Sage' would have never done. I whirled around, and slapped one of the doctor's across the face. I quickly jumped to the other side of the weird table. It was on wheels, so I pushed it straight into Garnett. He let out a grunt as the metal table slammed into him, and I sprinted towards the door. The doctors let out shouts of protest, but I just continued to sprint.

Right when I was about to reach the door, I felt someone wrap their arms around my waist. I kicked back, and let out screams of frustration.

"You're not getting away from me that easily, my little bird," Garnett cooed in my ear.

I continued to struggle against him, but I couldn't overpower a full grown man. Not even if he was from the Capitol. Garnett slammed me down on the metal table. All the air in my lungs came out in a rush. I felt a small prick in the back of my neck, and suddenly everything seemed to spin. I gave on last kick, and I heard someone, somewhere, let out a deep moan. I felt myself beginning to fall… fall deep into black clouds that were surrounding me. The last thought I had before I sunk into unconsciousness was wondering how hard it was going to hurt when I finally hit the ground…

**District Eight:**

**Asita's POV:**

"Well, you _certainly_ know how to get the job done," I laugh. I look over at my drooling stylist, and let out another stream of giggles. Ugh, it was such a pain pretending to be a complete and utter ditz. However, that's what my stylist wanted in a girl, so that's what I gave him. A ditzy girl who is extremely flirty without even noticing it.

My stylist, Hevart, was a Capitolian to the extreme. Everything about him was fake. His fake face, fake body, and very fake hair. He wasn't even remotely cute, and I had no idea how old this 'man' was. However, Hevart was an absolute genius when it came to my clothing.

He was obviously playing up my slutty side with this outfit. Usually, District Eight has the most boring outfits ever. It is usually tattered clothing, or mismatched patterns. Hevart already told me that Lyric was going to be wearing a tuxedo that was just made out of a bunch of different fabrics.

I, however, only had one fabric on. A very sheer fabric. It was a light green, and it reminded me of those fancy see through curtains the wealthy people had in District Eight. Yes, I did say see-through.

It was wrapped around my neck like a collar, and then both sides draped themselves over my breasts. It then continued downwards over my hips, until it wrapped itself several times around my crotch area. All I really was wearing was a curtain, but it looked very appealing on me. Now, because of how many times it was wrapped around my crotch area, you could not see that special place, thank God. Even _I_ have standards of some sorts!

Still, it was only draped over my breasts once, which meant you could see my breasts right through the sheer, light green, fabric. Was I practically going out in front of all of Panem naked? Yes. You're probably all wondering how this is any better than District Twelve rubbing coal soot over themselves for centuries.

Well, District Eight has never, in my lifetime at least, had a tribute that wore a 'sexy' outfit. This was a first for District Eight, and it was a 'classy' way to go out naked. I looked like a slutty princess or sex slave, not some naked fool rubbed in soot.

"You look ravishing," Hevart spat out. I could see _that look_ in his eyes, and I knew it was time for me to leave. I would rather kill myself than even kiss that sack of fat, let alone have sex with him.

"Yes I do… Well, I must depart. Time is money. Toodles!" I yelled out. I knew it was customary for stylists to escort their tributes, but I have a feeling he wouldn't be escorting me anytime soon if I just stuck around.

I heard him yell something, but I had already slammed the door in his excuse for face. He would catch up eventually…

I sprinted down the hallway, and looked for Lyric or one of our mentors. Suddenly, I saw Agatha walking towards me and I calmly strolled over to her.

"You certainly will get a lot of attention out of that get up," Agatha smiled.

"From sponsors and tributes alike," I laughed back

I link my arm in hers, and we made our way to, where I assume, the elevator to the stables was.

"Did you sleep with your stylist like you were planning?" Agatha asked.

"I like to have sex, not give to the less fortunate." I replied icily. Agatha let out a loud guffaw, and we continued walking until we saw Lyric and Clinton. Muffy was standing beside them with a girl who I assumed was Lyric's stylist. Clinton was the first to spot us, and his jaw literally dropped. Lyric followed his gaze, and his eyes popped open. Muffy was next, and she just shook her head.

"How do I look?" I asked, making sure to lean forwards a bit. All I knew was that by the way Clinton was looking at me; I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

"You look fabulous, now let's get a move on," Agatha growled. She ushered us into the elevator.

The doors were closing when I heard Hevart shouting out something about waiting. Agatha got a glimpse of him before the doors completely closed, and she whispered to me, "Good call."

I let out a small giggle, and soon the doors opened. I walked out into the stables, and groaned. First of all, it smelled like crap. Secondly, I was barefoot, which meant I had to watch where I was walking _very carefully._

The only tributes here were all the Careers, District Six, and District Seven. Sadly, I knew even though my outfit showed off my best, and only, advantage, it still would probably be outshined by District One. They had the best stylist for the past couple of years. Last year, he made a dress and tuxedo of glowing gems that changed colors. Oh, and he also made some eye drop thing that made their eyes change colors as well. I'm sorry, but how would this simple thing compete with that?

I also saw that someone else was trying out the sexy approach. The male from District Six, Adam I believe, was wearing white bandages. But that was it. They were wrapped tightly around his groin, and you could definitely see his… 'package'.

He was extremely hot, but no cigar since he wasn't a Career. The District Seven male, well, he was insane. Even if he ended up becoming a Career, there would be no way I could seduce him. I had a feeling he wasn't going to let any face stand in his way to victory, even if it was a pretty one.

That left the Careers. Stark, Apollo, and Leith.

I already knew Leith was away out of my league. Besides that fact it seemed like he and his District partner were fairly close, he was just a cold hearted robot. Even now, I couldn't find a hint of emotion on his face. Not even boredom! That's just not natural.

That left it down to Stark and Apollo. Frankly, both of them didn't look all that strong. They were both wiry, and each seemed to have a disability of some sorts. Stark looked ill even with stage makeup, and Apollo had an eye patch on.

I just had to work with what I had. I couldn't control who was reaped or volunteered. I ran my hand through my hair, put on a coy smile, and began to sashay towards them. About halfway there, I was intercepted by, wouldn't you know it, Adam.

"Hey there, beautiful. I couldn't help but notice that outfit." Adam smiled. "I'm Adam Reid. I believe your name is Asita, if I'm not mistaken."

"You'd be correct," I said curtly. I really didn't have that much time to flirt, and I wasn't going to waste it with this overconfident man.

"You know where that outfit would look better?" he asked. He then took a step closer, and whispered in my ear. "On my bedroom floor."

Oh god, two can play at this stupid game. "You know where your lips would look better?" I whispered back. Then, I bit down as hard as I could on his ear, and ripped.

He let out a wail, and stumbled back, clutching his right ear. I opened my mouth, and realized I actually bit off a small part of his earlobe. I quickly spit it out, and smiled at him. Thank Panem I was wearing red lipstick. That way, no one could tell I now had blood on my lips, and I couldn't get in trouble for hurting him. If there's no proof, what are they going to do?

"They would look better away from my face, so back off!" I barked at him. Adam looked more shocked than angry, and just went back to his chariot. I saw his stylist scurry towards him and I just rolled my eyes. Suck it up. It's just a little blood. Just take some stupid strips of gauze from your skimpy outfit and patch it up.

I looked over at the Careers, and noticed that a few of them were smiling at me. Obviously, some of them approved of my action. "What are you looking at?" I asked the Careers, not menacingly, but also not kindly.

"You, of course," Apollo replied. I looked into his eyes, and saw _that look_. I glanced over at Stark, and saw he didn't have that look at all. Well, looks like I have my winner.

"Why thank you. Was I impressive?" I asked.

"Definitely," he replied with a smirk.

"Nice outfit," one of the girls hissed at me. She was the tall black one from District Two. Interestingly enough, you couldn't tell she was black She and Apollo were dressed up as marble statues, which meant their skin was smothered in grey metallic body paint.

"Thanks. Nice hair," I commented.

I could tell that pissed her off to no end. Maybe I was the only one who noticed, but her stylists chopped off her dreadlocks. Now she had normal hair that went down to the nape of her neck in curls.

"What's your name?" the girl from District Four asked.

"It's Asita, right?" Apollo commented.

"Now you're just showing off." I laughed.

"You should get back to your chariot. It's always good to be where you belong." The black one growled.

Was that a threat?

Well, maybe I could spin this so that it was in my favor. "Of course, wouldn't want to intrude, would I? Well, I guess I'll just walk myself back to my chariot then."

I started to walk away slowly. If it didn't happen in the next four seconds I would quicken my pace.

_4…._

_ 3…._

_ 2…._

"A gorgeous woman should be escorted back to her chariot," Apollo smiled as he walked up beside me.

I let out a small giggle, and glanced back at the black girl. I decided to put a smug smile on my face as we walked away. I could hear her give off a little huff. I guess someone else might be fighting for Apollo's attention. Well, when it comes to games of the heart, I always win. End of story.

"So, are you really a Career?" I asked.

"Of course! Why would you even second guess that? I volunteered, after all."

"True, true… You just seem too sweet to actually be a Career," I lied.

"I can be nice to a girl, can't I?" he joked.

"I don't think that's allowed in the Hunger Games," I replied back with a laugh.

I saw his eyes wandering, and I decided to brush up against him 'accidently' to make sure I reeled him in. From what I had gathered, Apollo seemed to like the feminine women. The women who wanted a big, strong man to lead them and protect them. I had a feeling if I was an aggressive temptress who tried to screw him that he would stop seeing me as a pretty damsel in distress and just see me as a dirty harlot.

Good news, was that it meant all I had to do was flirt and play hard to get, while also letting him do all the work. The bad news was that I had to watch myself, and make sure I wasn't too flirty. Getting him to fall in love with me wouldn't be too hard… At least, getting him to fall in love with a made up person wouldn't be…

"I will be seeing you again, right?" I asked him once we made it to our chariot.

"Most definitely," Apollo laughed.

I decided the best kind of goodbye would to be give him a quick peck on the cheek. That's exactly what I did, and then sent him on his way. Hook. Line, and Sinker. I was just about to shoot some sort of victory smirk at the black woman when the room went silent. I glanced around, and soon saw _it_… or should I say, the girl from District Eleven…

**District Five:**

**Winnifred's POV:**

The room was literally stunned. I saw the District Eleven girl's mentors and escort run over to her.

"What did you do to her!" the escort screamed.

"Made her beautiful," the stylist replied simply.

The District Eleven girl looked to be in an extreme amount of pain. Instead of a nose she had… a beak. It wasn't the entire bill like a duck would have, but it was just the top part of it with the air holes for the nose. The bottom part of the beak was closed off, and she still had her mouth under it. Also, her hair was now feathers. Her caramel colored hair had been replaced with many long and short black feathers. It still looked sort of like hair, but you could see each individual feather if you looked at her.

I remember hearing about how people thought she looked like a bird, and even acted like one on the stage during the Reapings. Now, she actually appeared to be some bird muttation. It looked far too real to be fake or some kind of makeup, and I had a feeling that the Capitol would love it so much that no one would be willing to make her appear like herself again. She really is going to become the Capitol's little songbird.

"I want this man arrested _now!_ This is insanity! You will never work in the Capitol again when I am done with you!" the escort screamed at the stylist. Suddenly, Peacekeepers poured in and surrounded the man.

"I did nothing illegal! You have nothing against me!" the stylist screamed as he was dragged out of the stables.

I saw her mentors and escort helping her into the chariot, and she propped herself up against the railing. Poor girl… What that man did to her was… despicable. Besides the fact that she's an obvious target now, she also has all that pain to deal with. Well, one thing was for certain. The Capitol would eat this up, which might lead to sponsors.

"Everyone, get in your chariots! Launch is beginning in thirty seconds!" I heard someone announce over the intercom. I looked down at my own outfit, and smiled. It was certainly pretty. It was just a simply dress with swirling colors that was supposed to make it appear to be some sort of gas. Admyer's tuxedo matched my dress, and I knew we would make a small impression. We would be overshadowed, I knew that, but there were definitely tributes worse than us.

"Come on, Winnifred! We need to go now!" Admyer hissed. I snapped out of my thought bubble and clamored into the chariot. District One was just about to take off.

Right before the doors opened, their stylist motioned for them to do something. They each hit something on their white outfits, and suddenly everything started to spin. It wasn't their outfit that was the star of the show. It was their entire chariot! Gems that kept changing colors rose into the air, and circled around the tributes and chariot. The gems cast different shadows, colors, and light on the tributes, making them look absolutely dazzling.

The Capitol audience roared with approval, and I glanced up at the small television screen they had in here. I could see the girl smiling coyly at the audience, while the boy looked more nervous than anything. Still, he appeared somewhat confident, and even managed to wave a little.

District Two were dressed as marble statues, and they also looked just glamorous. Their chariot was out right before I noticed their outfits, and I quickly looked to the television screen. The boy was acting the same way the girl from District One was acting. Coy and sort of laid back with just a small smirk on his face. His district partner, however, was quite different. She looked absolutely furious, and was glaring at the audience. Well, you could definitely say she was a Career, through and through.

District Three's outfits were just awful. The girl was fairly short, so they decided to make her look like a 'cute' robot of some sort. Her district partner… Thomas I believe…. was dressed as a robot as well, but he wasn't necessarily cute. He was more cool and manly compared to his tiny district partner. I also noticed they chopped off his long mane of light brown hair, and he didn't seem too happy either. The chariot rolled out, and Thomas went from looking mad, to looking quite happy. He waved meekly at the audience, and seemed far cuter than his district partner. Speaking of his district partner, she was completely emotionless. She just stared straight ahead with no emotion, effectively killing the angle her stylists were trying to promote.

District Four's outfits were fairly good. The male tribute was dressed as a shark, while his partner was dressed as… some sort of fish. Her outfit was extremely beautiful, and elegant. Almost like an angel. The male's outfit was sharp, tight, and just dangerous looking. Plus, whatever the stylist did with his stage makeup just made him look even fiercer. They were sent out, and immediately the girl started smiling and waving. Her partner, however, was just as emotionless as the girl from three. It looked like if someone even smiled at him he might jump off the chariot and bite their head off.

And then, it was time for us. Admyer rubbed my back very quickly, and soon we were sent out into the blinding light of the Capitol. The Capitol had mixed reactions of us. Frankly, we were forgettable. When you compared us to all those other fabulous outfits, and shining tributes, we were just so average. I glanced over at Admyer, and saw him waving at people who looked at him or said his name. I decided that there really was nothing I could do, so what's the point? I simply put my elbow on the front of the railing, and placed my face in the palm of my hand.

I looked at the screen, and I appeared to be bored. Maybe even a little stupid. Well, let them think what they want. I already know I'm not getting any sponsors, and maybe it will give the tributes less of a reason to target me during the bloodbath. The screen shifted to the pair from six, and I almost laughed. The boy… Adam…. was wearing next to no clothing. All he had one was some bandages tightly wrapped around his… man area.

His partner, Lucy, was just in a dress made of white gauze bandages. It was tight, but it wasn't going for sexy. Lucy was the first person of the night to play up to the audience. She waved, smiled, and blew kisses. Adam did the same, except his moves seemed more seductive instead of joyous.

District Seven flashed across the screen, and I barely had time to see them. Their outfits were awful. The man was dressed as a bear, while the girl was dressed as a wolf. Pretty much, they looked silly and stupid, unlike the District Four tributes who looked fierce and elegant.

They were replaced by District Eight. Everyone had seen the girl strutting around in her 'outfit'. The Capitol, however, hadn't seen it, and were screaming their heads off when the lights hit her. She flounced around, and she definitely showed off her body. I could just hear the men screaming her name. Her district partner, Lyric, was clothing in a simple green tuxedo, and was greatly overshadowed by the girl.

District Nine was also not on for very long. They were dressed in outfits made of meat. It was disgusting and not fashionable at all. The boy, Hawk, was just standing their emotionless, while Kairi looked like she was going to have a seizure, fall off, and die.

District Ten was next, and they stayed on the air for awhile. Their outfits weren't great, but they weren't horrid either. The girl was dressed in a cow print dress, while the small boy was in a leather cow boy outfit. Sadly, what got them cut off the air earlier than most was their attitude. The boy looked terrified, while the girl was pulling at her dress uncomfortably. She obviously wasn't used to any kind of formal wear, and it showed.

Then it was the shocker the Capital was waiting for. When they saw Sage, they fell silent for a few seconds before erupting in applause. I could see Sage was still crying, and as soon as she heard their cheers she cried even harder. She felt ridiculed. Made fun of. She felt like an animal in a cage, being poked and prodded. It was just… heart wrenching.

Her district partner was overshadowed by her, but some people seemed to notice him. He was in a cute little outfit. He had on a straw hat, overalls, and makeup that made him appear even younger than thirteen. He looked kind of angry, but he still played up the cute act and smiled.

District Twelve appeared next dressed in simply red and black outfits. It wasn't anything fancy, but it certainly wasn't the worst outfits ever. Usually they had the worst, but obviously someone was smart enough to play it safe and just give them nice outfits instead of trying to play up them being from a coal district. Ruth seemed kind of mad, and looked about ready to jump into the crowd and tear them to shreds. Her district partner was far more diplomatic, and was definitely playing the crowd. He was all smiles, laughs, and joy.

The funny thing was, District Thirteen turned out to be the real shocker of the night. Ayla and Alexei came out on their chariot, dressed in simple black outfits. It looked exactly like their reaping outfits. I guess the stylists couldn't think of anything to do, so they decided to play it safe.

Obviously, Ayla wasn't going to follow stylist's orders tonight.

Oddly enough, the first thing I noticed about her was that her head was shaved. That must have been some request of some sort, though I had no idea why. They, what she did, was fairly symbolic. She grabbed a chunk of her shirt, and tore a giant strip from it. She took the strip, tied her wrists together, and glared at the audience.

No one could argue the resemblance between her wrist band thing, and handcuffs. It only got worse. She raised her hands high in the air, and did a gesture everyone knew of.

She was _flipping off the Capitol_.

All cheers stopped, and once it was almost silent, Ayla let out a stream of curse words. Words so fowl, that I had the urge to cover my ears. The cameras immediately went off of her, and I ceased to hear her at all. I doubted they did anything to her, but perhaps there were microphone on the chariots or something…

Suddenly, I snapped out of my trance and realized we were almost to the City Circle. I decided I might as well start playing up the crowd a little bit, and waved. I continued to wave, but my gaze wandered back to the giant television screens. The cameras kept flitting back between Districts One, Two, Four, Eight, and Eleven. Districts Six and Twelve also got some good screen time. I even saw Admyer and me a few times, but District Thirteen never showed up again.

Our chariots lurched to a stop, and I looked around. Almost all the tributes looked exhausted. I stole a glance at Sage. She had stopped crying, but every lurch seemed to inflict some sort of small pain in her. The last chariot to arrive was District Thirteen, and I noticed Ayla was smiling. Obviously, they did nothing to her. They couldn't since all of _Panem_ was watching!

I looked up to the huge balcony overlooking the City Circle, and I saw President Raven glide out. She had a small smile on her face, and she began her speech. She welcomed us to the Capitol, and then just went on and on about the Hunger Games. The only time I paid any attention was at the end when I heard her speech start to stray from the scripted thing we heard back home every year.

"Good luck to you all! Just remember, the Capitol is always looking for a good show. I would _highly_ suggest not _spoiling_ our fun!"

The final glare she gave to us sent a shiver down my spine. That was a threat. Whether it was to all of us, or a specific tribute, the message was clear. Do something that ruined their fun, and you were dead. She was reminding us we were just tributes. There were about a million kids that could replace us with a snap of her fingers…

**District Nine:**

**Kairi's POV:**

Acting mentally ill was _exhausting_. I mean, I couldn't speak my mind at all! I just had to sit down, be lead around, and constantly flail about or make weird noises. Still, I knew in the end it would pay off. I was going to win these games… I just had to play them right.

The chariot lurched to a stop, and I purposefully fell off of it backwards. I landed with a thud on the ground, and almost said something along the lines of 'ouch'. Of course, that would kind of ruin my cover, so I just let out a really loud, low moan.

I heard someone running over to me, and I realized that Pop was leaning over me.

"Oh just leave her there! Maybe she'll get trampled to death and we'll get a new tribute," I heard Whitney laugh.

"Oh shut up, you heartless witch!" Hawk hissed.

"Bite me, you piece of pond scum!" Whitney barked.

"Come on, Kairi, let me help you up…" Pop murmured.

He lifted me onto my feet, and I just groaned and kicked a little bit. I also let my eyes roll around a bit for dramatic effect, and I felt myself being carried towards the elevator. On the way there, I saw looks of pity. Good, I wasn't being too overdramatic then!

Soon, the elevator lurched upwards, and I felt the air rush in from our floor. I was carried to, what I assumed, was my new bedroom. Pop tucked me in, and left. The lights were completely off, and I just let out a sigh. How was I going to do this? Act like this for at least four more days? It just seemed impossible! Plus, I was going to miss any training opportunity I had. That meant no time to try and learn to fight. No time to make alliances. The only thing I could really do was possibly listen to instructors talk about their subjects, and play with the paint in the camouflage station.

That's just what I was going to have to do. Listen to the instructors talk to other tributes, and hope to learn as much as I could that way.

I hopped out of bed, and looked around. I really needed to walk around. I looked down at my outfit, and sighed. I was still in this stupid meat get up. I quickly tossed it on the floor, and changed into some pajamas. When I got back, I would change back into it, and try to sleep through the stench.

I opened the door to the hallway, and peeked out. Even if I did get caught, I could just flop on the ground and they would think I was just wandering around in a haze. No one was in sight, and I stepped out of my room. I shut the door behind me, and I just started to wander. Soon, my mind began to wander as well, and I stopped paying attention to where I was going.

My family must know I was faking it. They just had to know. Unless they thought the Hunger Games had shocked and upset me so much that I slipped back into insanity. Libby probably knew that I was faking as well…

Libby… I was so furious that she even dared show up to say goodbye to me. Now… now I kind of wished I would have just heard her out. You see, we had a pretty bad history. It wasn't until a few years ago I slipped out of my mental disorder. When I did slip out, I didn't remember everything from my past. I remembered people, places, and how I felt about them… but I certainly didn't remember anything about school. I was so out of it when I was in my 'zone' that I never really paid attention to what they taught at school, or how people truly felt about me.

Libby, someone I had grown up knowing as one of my only friends, turned out to be a complete fake. The girl I thought I knew didn't exist. At first, no one believed I was normal. After knowing me for so many years, they just couldn't believe it. Almost everyone knew me as the whacko girl, and that's who they were comfortable with.

Libby… I was her _charity_ case. She liked the attention she got. Poor Libby who spent all her time with the crazy girl. Libby's such a nice girl…. Only a saint would spend time with someone that doesn't even act like a human being at times. Libby this, and Libby that.

Well, once I was normal, there was no more attention for Libby. So she left. She pretty much broke off all contact with me, and I heard 'through the grapevine' what her true motives were. I remember feeling so alone… I remember slipping back into my 'zone'. It was just awful! It was Corinne, my best friend still to this day, that found me. She cleaned me up, and took me home.

That's why I was furious with Libby. That's why I couldn't believe the audacity it took her to come and talk to me even though I was being sent to my death. But now… now I was wondering if she wasn't there to taunt me. Maybe she was there to actually apologize. Maybe… for once…. it wasn't some stupid stunt for attention. I guess I would only find out if… when I got home.

I snapped out of my train of thought, and looked around. I had no idea where I was. I could tell I was still on my floor, but I was definitely in some of the more deserted parts of it. At least, the less used parts of it. I let out a huge sigh, and turned around.

Then I froze.

"So, you're not as stupid as everyone thinks?"

Standing in front of me was the giant man from District Seven, Lucian.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, frankly, I was bored. Plus, sometimes, I just get this overwhelming desire to have a little fun, and that certainly can't happen in my boring bedroom." Lucian laughed.

"Well, you won't find any fun here. I'm just taking a little stroll," I murmured. I knew my act was over. Either he was going to tell everyone, or he would use it against me later. Either way, I completely failed because of my incompetence. I really thought I could just go on a walk and I wouldn't run into anyone? I'm such an idiot!

"Are you kidding me? I see all the fun in the world right here!" Lucian laughed.

I finally noticed something was off. Maybe it was the way his laughed always hitched up at the end, or perhaps it was the way he kept getting creepily closer. The result, though, was the fact I took a step back.

"Everyone has their secrets, Kairi," Lucian whispered. All laughs and smiles were gone. He was dead serious.

"And what's yours?" I asked as I continued to take steps backwards.

"Mine is the fact that I want to kill Jacqie, but I can't. You see, that warning President Raven wasn't meant for that stupid punk from District Thirteen. Oh no, it was meant for _me!_ That bitch was smart enough to look into our histories, make connections, and rig the Reapings. There is no other way both of us could have been reaped at the same time unless it was rigged!"

He continued to get closer, and I just gulped. I didn't like where this was going.

He let out a cold, harsh laugh, and something lit up in his eyes. "You see! She planned this, and she can't wait for it to play out in the arena. She is betting on this to be one of the most dramatic events of the games! So I can't kill her when there isn't an audience to enjoy it!"

"You're insane," I whispered.

"Or maybe I'm the only sane one in a world full of crazies!" he cackled. "But, you won't last long in the games. You're a delicate thirteen year old girl. The Capitol thinks you are mentally retarded, and they wouldn't care if you ended up dead. You're death will be just enough to get me to the games!" Lucian screeched.

That's when I grabbed the side table I was inching towards the entire time and smashed it down on his foot. He let out a howl of pain… and… pleasure? "First that stupid girl makes it so I can't open my eye for a day, and now you've probably broken a toe. Oh, how I love how the weak scramble!"

I let out a shrill scream, and spun around. I sprinted down the hallway. I could hear him thundering behind me, but I just continued to pump my legs faster and faster.

I felt him barrel into me, and we both went sprawling across the floor. Even though I was faster than him, I was far smaller, which meant he had larger strides. Every three of my steps was probably only one step to him.

"You're screams are just like a beautiful orchestra to me, Kairi! Scream out! Scream out!" He laughed manically. I felt a sharp pain spread throughout my entire body, and I let out a shrill scream. I was hoping someone was nearby. Even though this seemed to be an older, abandoned part of the floor, there could always be an Avox around! I still had hope!

"That's it, very good!" Lucian almost giggled out. I saw him pull something out of my shoulder. It appeared to be a shard from a vase… and it was now covered in blood.

_ My blood…_

I saw him lick it, and shudder. "Oh yes, this will definitely get me to the games. Killing is always such a constant craving…"

I tried to punch him, but he grabbed my wrist in mid-strike, and effectively broke it. I let out another scream, and he just laughed. "Let's take this somewhere more… private…. shall we?"

I let out another bloodcurdling scream, but he just grabbed my head and smashed it against the floor. I let out a low moan, and saw him open the door to an abandoned room. He grabbed me by the ankle, and dragged me in. I could see my blood being smeared into the carpet, leaving a clear path to where I was being taken. Someone could see it…. I still had hope…. I would always have hope… Even in Libby…. Even in my family…. Even in humanity….

**Will Kairi die? Live? WILL I KILL SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY SYOTS BEFORE THE GAMES EVEN START?**

**Well, you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you ;) don't you love cliffhangers? So, just remember, I always have the power to do what I want ;D **

**All joking aside, seriously, review and tell me what you think? Good chapter? Bad chapter? Outfits suckish or good? Anywho, I had a great vacation, and now I'm back, ready to write :D so pleeeeeaaaaase review :D and I'll see you guys next time!**


	20. We Have A Problem

**We Have A Problem:**

**President Raven's POV:**

"Madame President, we have a problem," I heard someone practically yell at me. My eyes fluttered open, and I looked at the clock next to my bed on the nightstand. It was one o'clock in the morning.

"The entire Capitol better be burning down if you're waking me up this early," I hissed. Any person that ever talked to me in the morning knew that I was in my worst mood during that time of the day. If you woke me up before morning even came, let's just say you would be lucky to exit the room with a pulse.

"No it's worse! Come and see!" I heard some shout. I finally looked over at the door, and saw one of the Gamemakers jumping up and down. He was one of the newer ones, and I knew he must have lost some silly game with the other ones if he was the one coming to get me. Obviously, none of them wanted to be punished for whatever happened that was 'oh so terrible'.

"Well, give me a minute! I'm not leaving this room until I at least look presentable!" I growled. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and fumbled for my robe.

"But… But Madame President we need yo-"

"I don't think you want me to repeat myself. Bad things happen to those that don't listen when I say something the first time," I threatened.

I heard him let out a little yelp, and the door slammed shut. Some people were so weak. They couldn't even take a little threat on their life without running off like a dog with their tail between their legs.

I finally found my robe, and slipped into it. I shuffled into my closet, and quickly picked out a black dress suit. I slipped into it, brushed my hair, and applied a dash of makeup. I walked out of my bedroom looking refreshed, professional, and _peeved_.

"Is the limo outside, uhm…" I began.

"Marcel. My name is Marcel," The Gamemaker mumbled.

"Did I ask what your name was, Mitchell," I hissed.

"No ma'am… and it's Marcel." He said again.

I gave him my best death glare, and he immediately froze. If this kid kept it up, he wouldn't live to see the sunrise. "Now, answer my first question. Is the limo outside?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." I barked. I started to walk, and he followed behind me. I trotted through the hallways, and descended my marble staircase. I made it to the front door, and tapped my foot impatiently.

"Are you going ma'am?" Mitchell asked.

"I'm a lady." I huffed.

"And you're point is?" Mitchell asked again.

"What do men do for ladies?" I barked. His face looked like that of a slow, mentally impaired child. Finally, it dawned on him that I might expect people to show me some courtesy and manners. He leapt in front of me, and the door flew open. I stepped outside, and walked down the steps through my garden. I made it to the driveway, and before I could even glare at him he opened the car door.

Good, he didn't make the same mistake twice. That usually got you killed.

I stepped inside the car, and waited. Mitchell slipped in, and I sighed. The limousine began moving, and I let out a heavy sigh. "So will someone please explain to me exactly what happened? I _detest_ surprises…"

"Well… I really don't know what happened. They came in with this _thing_, and sent me to fetch you since I was the youngest Gamemaker… They were watching surveillance videos right when I was leaving."

"I have a feeling someone is going to either be losing their job or their life tonight," I sighed. I glanced over at Mitchell, and realized he must think I'm completely crazy. I mean, I was saying these kinds of things just like someone said what the weather was like. Well, they stated the weather like it was a fact. I did the same exact thing.

It didn't take very long to get to where I wanted to go. Everyone knew my limousine when they saw it coming through the streets, and they knew better than to keep going. Every single car either slowed down, or pulled over. I waited patiently for the car door to open, and once it did, I leapt out. I looked around, and realized we were at the Training Center of all places.

Shit.

I quickened my pace, and I heard my heels furiously clicking against the stone. Mitchell was scurrying behind me, and he seemed to notice my mood change. I assumed they would be taking me to the Control Room. That there was some problem with some stupid trap in the arena. Maybe even the protestors were getting a little out of hand… But if they were at the Training Center, that meant only one thing.

Something happened to a tribute.

I've never _ever_ been called to the Training Center. The last time a President had to go to a Training Center, it was my predecessor, President Fern. It was near the beginning of his reign, and one of the tributes had managed to seriously maim another one. The solution was to rig the mines so that they would explode automatically, effectively killing off the injured tribute.

"What floor are they on?" I asked.

"They're in the medical lab," Mitchell started.

I rushed into the elevator, and pressed the right floor. Mitchell was making his way into the elevator, when I sent him a petrifying glare. "I don't ride the elevator with others. Wait for the next one."

"Y-yes ma'am…" Mitchell stuttered.

The doors closed, and I took a few calming breathes. I really didn't need this right now. The protestors in the Capitol were becoming a nuisance, and if they saw any loss in control, they would go for the kill.

I made it to my floor, and rushed out. I practically sprinted to the medical lab, and burst through the closed doors.

"What the _hell_ is going on!" I screamed.

"We have a pro-"

"Yes, yes, I know! Tell me what the problem is!"

"Look for yourself," Head Gamemaker Lavender hissed from the corner. I glanced over at her, and she shifted her position so I could see past her. There were doctors surrounding… a tribute? The tribute was extremely mutilated, and it was even a bit sickening to me. However, the tribute was on life support, and they still had a heartbeat.

"What…" I whispered.

"Come watch," Lavender said with a smirk on her face. I followed closely behind her, and saw I was watching a surveillance tape. "Playback," Lavender ordered.

The video screen came to life, and I saw a door open, and a man come in. His back was to the camera, but I could see him dragging in something. The thing made a little screech, and I knew immediately it was the tribute here before me. I recognized the tribute as the girl from District Nine. The runt with the 'mental disorder'. She was definitely a good little actress, which is exactly why we picked her. Yes, it should come as no surprise to you that we rig the Reapings every now and then to spice up the games.

The runt was letting out inhumane screams, as the man tore her apart. He was soon soaked in her blood, and everything within a few feet was dripping with the red substance. Some of the Gamemakers looked sick, but I just watched with fascination. Usually, it didn't get this bloody in the Hunger Games. Of course, I've seen worse tortures, but to see a little girl tortured was utterly fascinating.

The runt looked as good as dead, and the man stood up. He turned around, and I caught a glimpse of his face. Lucian, the crazy from District Seven. Well, at least he didn't kill his sweet little District Partner. I was saving that battle for later…

I let out a little chuckle that soon escaladed to a chorus of bone chilling cackles. Lucian may be a complete idiot who can't even finish the job, but he just did me an immense favor.

"What should we do?" I heard someone ask. It was Mitchell, who had obviously caught up.

A smirk graced my face, when I giggled out, "Nothing. Nothing at all!"

"Madame President?" Mitchell asked.

I glanced over at the runt from nine, and walked slowly over to her. I touched the palm of my hand to her chest, and I felt her shudder in response. I lifted the palm up, and just stared at the blood. I pressed it to my lips, and just tasted the wonderful flavor of it. The aroma was almost intoxicating. I quickly yanked the knife I always kept hidden from my sleeve, and brought it down forcefully into the runt's heart.

Her monitor immediately went flat, and she was dead.

"Raven!" Lavender screeched out.

"We say she had another one of her seizures, and accidently killed herself. No one but us, her family, and Lucian know that she wasn't a mental patient."

"Why did you do that!" Lavender yelled.

"Because, what will everyone that has half a brain in both the Capitol and Districts assume? They will assume that we killed her because of that stupid stunt the bitch from District Thirteen pulled. Everyone will believe we were just asserting our power on someone weak, and replaceable. It's the perfect way to calm down any riots from protestors, and further outbursts from aspiring rebels."

There was complete and utter silence for at least a few minutes. The only sound was the irritating steady beep from the runt's heart monitor. Finally, someone piped up. "Only you would think like that," I slowly spun around, and saw it was Lavender who had spoken that. Before I could open my mouth and scream my head off at her, she added, "and that's why you are the best President yet."

I let out a few more insane chuckles, and looked at my lovely Gamemakers and Peacekeepers. "I need someone to fetch me documents for possible District Nine female tributes. I want someone fairly tough and rebellious. That way, it will look like we are also punishing some sort of rebel, which is a win-win situation for us."

Everyone dispersed. Some left to attend to other matters, while others ran away to get the files I requested. I flopped down into a chair, and smiled to myself. Who knew I could turn something so disastrous into something so beautiful.

I remembered the doctors still waiting patiently for me to either dismiss them or give them a new order. I stared at them for a few seconds, and glanced at the runt's body. "Although I don't want to destroy such a beautiful piece of artwork, I need you to fix her body up so it really does look like she accidently fell on something and killed herself."

The doctors nodded, and wheeled the dead carcass out of the room. I sighed, and looked down at the list of current tributes someone had just placed in front of me. I was extremely excited about Camilla being in these games. I had already heard about how she was going to volunteer, and then when you mix her with the other Careers, and that assassin district partner of hers; it was just the perfect match.

I knew about both Jordana and Apollo volunteering. They were both skilled, and would both definitely make the Careers stronger. I only heard a few days about Valhalla volunteering, which didn't give me much time to rig the Reapings so that Thomas would be reaped. I had been waiting for that day for quite awhile. Perhaps it would amount to nothing, or it might just add a very dramatic flair to the games that would be much needed. Sadly, I had no control over that. I could only, ironically enough, pray.

District Four, well, I knew Leith would volunteer. Still, no one rigged the Reapings because I was so sure someone would volunteer. There were several promising female Careers in that District this year. Interestingly enough, Oceana was hated so much that they just let her leave. It was definitely quite interesting, and shocked me completely. I didn't do anything to the District Five Reapings, and I had no interest in the District Six male. However, I was quite thrilled to have my little Angel in the games. It would definitely make them a lot more entertaining for me!

I personally saw to it that the District Seven Reapings were rigged. I randomly chose the District Eight tributes, but I definitely chose a diamond in the ruff with Asita. She was adding just as much drama as the Careers. If the Capitol caught wind she was sleeping with Lyric's mentor… well, it would boost the ratings!

I made sure the runt was reaped, which sadly amounted to nothing, and Hawk was still promising. I didn't care about Districts Ten, Eleven, or Twelve. They usually died in the bloodbath anyways. Now District Thirteen was the most fun to rig this year! Since it was their first time, I took the second-in-commands son. The Golden Boy of the district. Then there was Ayla. Oh, she has definitely etched her name into my brain for all eternity with that stunt she pulled during the chariots. Part of the reason she is rebelling is probably because she has no idea why she was reaped. And she probably never will.

Her father was one of the 'special' soldiers. He died on an assignment, but the thing Ayla doesn't know is that I killed him myself. Regulus Siege. He actually managed to sneak into my office, and almost got away with important documents. Well, he obviously wasn't smart enough to know that I always kept an eye on my office. The second I saw him in there via hidden cameras, I strolled in with a brigade of Peacekeepers. I put a bullet right into his skull, and watched him bleed to death on my carpet. It was actually quite a thrilling experience. It happened at least a decade ago, though, within the first ten years of my reign.

I never forgot his name, and when the time it came to pick two tributes from District Thirteen, his daughter was the first on my little hit list. Obviously, she had the same spirit her father had. A spirit I respected, unless it was being used against me.

"We have the files, Raven," Lavender announced.

I glanced upwards, and looked at her expectantly. She plopped down reports on five girls in front of me. I looked through the reports, and finally found my rebel. Coyn Fortune. Several fights with Peacekeepers, and several public whippings. She was perfect to play the part I wanted her too.

"Will you be coming with us to fetch her?" Lavender asked.

"Of course! I doubt they'll just listen to you since you're going to be trying to take their daughter away, without any warning, in the middle of the night. They'll need to see me in person if they are going to cooperate."

"Sounds like a plan," Lavender murmured as she sorted through documents.

"Mitche-"

'It's Marcel," he corrected.

"Mitchell, please call a hovercraft. We need to get there and back before daylight."

"Yes ma'am…"

I got up from my seat, and glanced around. I couldn't rely on the Peacekeepers from District Nine. There was more crime there than anywhere else, which meant most of them didn't do their job as well as they could. I hand selected five Peacekeepers, Lavender, Mitchell, one other Gamemaker named Trinity, and myself to undertake the retrievement of the new tribute. All of us rushed to the hovercraft, and got in. It was definitely one of the nicer and roomier ones. I shared a room with the Gamemakers, while I let the Peacekeepers have their own room to… do whatever Peacekeepers did when they are bored.

I tapped my heel against the steel floor impatiently. "Do you think he can go any faster?"

"Raven, we've been in flight for about five minutes," Lavender sighed.

I shot her a dirty look, and went back to watching the land fly by outside the window. Well, it wasn't just the land. It was _my_ land. I had the power, and I was going to keep it that way for as long as possible.

It took us at least an hour before we were 'nearing' District Nine. Hopefully nearing meant getting close to landing, because if I was in the sky for another hour I was going to rip the pilot's head off!

"You're really not the most patient person, are you?" someone asked.

My eyes landed on the Gamemaker that Lavender said I should bring. He was older than me, and I remember seeing him control the Hunger Games since I was a teenager. His name… oh what was it… I was just terrible when it came to remembering names of insignificant life forms…

"I like to think of it as conserving time," I half heartedly joked.

"Ah, I see," was his only response.

After another few minutes of silence, Mitchell piped up. "Madame President… I had a question…"

"Well ask it!" I snapped.

"Yes ma'am! Uh… why did you ever become President?" he asked.

I stared at him for a second before I quipped, "Because I am the strongest person in Panem. The strongest person in Panem becomes President. It's just logical."

"Why did you want to become President then?"

I smiled a little, "Two things. I love power, and I love the Hunger Games. Since I never was going to be able to go into the Hunger Games, I decided to do the next thing better. Control them with an almighty iron fist that not even Gamemakers like you can contradict."

I could tell he was going to ask something else completely useless and trivial, but then the hovercraft suddenly stopped and started to descend. We had, obviously, reached our destination. I smirked, and stood up. I smoothed out my skirt, and made my way towards the exit. I was the first to the door, and swung it open. Yes, I was a woman, and I liked for men to open doors and pull out chairs for me. However, right now I was far more than a woman. I was the President of Panem, and I had to take control. I had to be strong, and never break. I had to dictate things to benefit the Capitol, and _break_ _anyone_ who stood in my way. Even the innocent.

I stepped off the hovercraft, and yawned. It was probably almost four o'clock in the morning by now. We had to pick up the pace. "Where is Coyn Fortune's house?"

"This way," one of the Peacekeepers barked.

"Lead the way then."

I let the Peacekeeper pass me, and I followed him. I looked around at the shabby District. It was unquestionably less glamour than the Capitol. However, for a few to live in luxury, many must suffer. As long as I was one of the few, I could care less about the others.

We winded through the streets, until we came to a two story house. It wasn't too awful for District Nine, but I wouldn't be caught dead going into it unless I had to.

"Go." Was the only word that left my lips.

One of the Peacekeepers kicked the front door down (far too overdramatic in my opinion), and all of us swarmed in. I took the lead, and led them up the stairs. They had their guns poised, as if someone would actually attack _us._ I heard a door fly open, and I saw a woman standing there with a shocked expression on her face. She let out a hysterical cry, and I motioned for the Peacekeepers to get her. One of them shoved her to the ground, and smashed her head into the floor. I couldn't help but grin at the small flow of blood that trickled out of her newfound wound. Her husband was shocked, and I could see him charging the Peacekeeper, most likely in a futile attempt to 'protect' his wife.

I just rolled my eyes, and kept looking in rooms. I finally came to one, opened it, and saw two girls sleeping. Well, one of them was staring at me with wide eyes. The other, Coyn, was still asleep. I made a small gesture to the younger girl to keep quiet, and then made the slicing the throat gesture. She let out a small squeal, and I just continued to grin.

"In here," I announced.

Three Peacekeepers stormed in, and grabbed Coyn. She let out a surprised scream, and wildly thrashed about. The younger girl was crying hysterically, and I just rolled my eyes. I lashed out, slapped her across the face, and her head snapped back. She looked completely and utterly shocked, but I just waved with a smile plastered on my face.

"Let's go," I said nonchalantly.

We quickly exited the room, and I ushered everyone down the stairs. Mitchell looked quite pale, but Lavender seemed to be enjoying herself. "What's going on?" Coyn screamed.

"Time to take part in the Hunger Games, honey," I screeched and cackled.

"Over my dead body," Coyn screamed as she thrashed about.

"Well, you do have a younger sister," I smiled.

That immediately shut her up, and she stopped moving about. Oh, how pitiful some people were. We finally made it out the front door, and I just smirked at the young rebel. "The female tribute from this District died. You're replacing her. If you don't agree, we'll kill you, and take your sister. Got it?"

"Got it," Coyn hissed.

"I don't!" I heard someone scream.

My head snapped upwards, and I saw the younger girl from before leap out the window. Only minutes before this girl had been crying hysterically, but now she had a look of pure anger and malice on her face. She was heading right towards me, and I saw something metal flash in her hand.

"Watch out!" I heard Mitchell yell.

I felt something make contact with my body, and I went flying. My head snapped back, and smashed itself into the stone ground. I heard someone let out a scream, most likely Coyn, and I looked up. Mitchell was on top of me. He obviously tackled me out of the way.

The shocking scene was the fact that one of the Peacekeepers was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Three Peacekeepers had their guns poised at the girl, while one of them had their gun ready to fire at Coyn.

"Shoot her now!" One of them yelled out.

"If she dies, all of you die as well!" I screamed out.

Silence greeted me. I got up, and looked at the dying Peacekeeper. "Someone take him to a hospital before he gets blood on my shoes," I groaned.

One of the Peacekeepers picked up their comrade, and headed, God knows where. I looked at the girl's hand, and saw that she had a… kunai.

"Little girls shouldn't play with grown up tools," I hissed.

"I'm fifteen and barely 'little' anymore," she spat.

I grabbed her face with one of my hands, and got even closer to her. "I'm President Raven. You will treat me with respect, or die."

I threw her face away from me, and wiped my hand on my skirt. "You know, a girl who is willing to leap out of a window with a kunai to try and kill the President of Panem will definitely serve my purpose far more than your stupid sister. Here's your deal. You either volunteer to go into the Hunger Games, or we kill you and take your sister."

"What about Kairi?" the girl asked.

"She's dead," I said simply, "Answer now, or I'll just let the Peacekeepers shoot you."

"I'll… I'll go," she whispered.

"Ace, no!" Coyn yelled.

"Ace… such a pretty name. Grab her!" I yelled.

Ace was surrounded, and soon escorted to the hovercraft. "Marcel, you were willing to die for me…" I said to him once Ace was gone.

"Of course, you're my President." He stated.

"It won't be forgotten," I said simply. I spun around, ready to depart, when I felt someone pulling on my arm.

"You can't take my daughter away! You can't! It's not right!" The mother screamed at me. I glanced at the front door to her house, which was wide open. Ace's father and Coyn both stood there with fear in their eyes. I also saw hope. Hope that I might just listen to this woman's pleas.

My favorite pastime was to squash those kinds of emotions.

Without a single word, I drew my hidden knife out for the second time today, and stabbed it directly into the woman's womb. The woman fell forward, clutching her stomach.

"Momma!" Coyn screamed. She ran to her, and I just laughed.

I spun back around, and walked away. I wiped the knife off on Marcel's clothes, and we continued our trek to the hovercraft. We made it there without any other incidents. Lavender and the other Gamemaker were both waiting at the entrance.

"Is Ace secured?"

"Completely tied up."

"Good, now put her in one of the rooms, and I'll be there shortly. I want to have a conversation, just me and her." I ordered.

Lavender nodded, and set off to do it. I walked into the hovercraft, and waited a couple of minutes. It took off, and soon Lavender nodded, meaning everything was prepared. I strolled into the adjoining room, and shut the door behind me.

Ace was sitting on a chair, hands and ankles handcuffed together. I sat down across from her, and I could tell she had been crying. She glared defiantly at me, and I laughed again. Some people were so stubborn. Why couldn't they just give up and see I always won?

"Tell me how you got that kunai. No District should have those kinds of weapons." I hissed. Ace just looked away from me, and I hissed. Kunai were weapons of the Masked Men. Centuries ago they were called something completely different, but the last time they were on the rise everyone called them the Masked Men. They used stealth, agility, and weapons to kill. They were pretty much faster, but not necessarily smarter, versions of assassins.

In the Training Center, we have a few of their weapons. Throwing stars, kunai, shuriken, and kamas. Still, no one in the Districts should have these weapons. They could be used for a rebellion. "I asked you a question."

"I know," Ace responded.

I walked over to her, and slapped her so hard I knew she would have a welt there for awhile. "Then answer it, whelp. You really don't want to get on my bad side."

"Tobias, the Blacksmith," she whispered.

I stared at her shimmering grey eyes. "He's not the only one. There are things you aren't telling me… But, his death will set an example to the rest. No more Masked Men will be coming from your District, I can assure you."

"You're going to kill him!" Ace up roared.

"Yes." I smiled. I flipped out my cellular device, and began typing in numbers.

"Why?" Ace asked with tears in her eyes.

"Because," I smiled, "When there's a problem, I find a way to fix it because I'm the President. It doesn't matter _how_ it gets fixed, as long as it is resolved." I made my way out of the room, but right before I shut the door, I smiled back at her. "Oh, and Ace? Have fun in training today."

**So here you go! The death of Kairi, and the new District Nine tribute, courtesy of PowerPlayer! Thank you PowerPlayer for the amazing tribute and, even though I doubt you'll ever read this, sorry BIOTA for killing off your character. It was between her, Scarlett, and Davis, and she was the best choice. If you want to find out later, feel free to PM me. **

**Training Day One will be up next, and I can assure you there will be tons of drama! :D not to toot my own horn, but creating drama is my specialty :D especially during Pre Game stuff :DDDD So review, and tell me what you think of this chapter, and our lovely Madame President :D**


	21. Training Day One: Part One

**Training Day One:**

**Part One:**

**District Nine:**

**Ace's POV:**

"Oh, and Ace? Have fun in training today?"

The door slammed shut, and I was completely alone. I felt my breathing begin to quicken. What in Panem's name was I thinking? Why did I just give her the name of the man who had been so kind to me the past couple of years? Why was she going to kill a simple blacksmith, who had a family that relied upon him?

More and more questions began to race through my mind. I could feel myself panicking. And, believe me, when I had my panic attacks, it wasn't the most lovely experience to witness. I tried to steady my breathing, but still failed. Finally, I resorted to rethinking my steps. I only did that when I was physically lost, but maybe it could help me when I was mentally lost as well.

I woke up earlier, and saw a woman in my house. I had just woken up, and started crying. I thought for sure it was a robbery. You know, the kind where they kill the family and steal their belongings. The woman flicked her wrist, and several men grabbed my sleeping older sister. My first thought was that they were going to rape us, and _then_ kill us. It certainly wasn't unheard of in District Nine. The woman slapped me across the face, and left. I continued to panic, and I was so shaken up. I ran into the hallway, saw my mother bleeding, and ran back to my bedroom window.

By then, I was obviously not hysterical anymore, which allowed me to open the window without alerting the people below it. I heard something about 'the runt from District Nine' being dead, and the Hunger Games. That's when I flipped out.

Time for a little back story. My sister is very 'rebellious'. She does things, just because people say that she can't. She has been whipped in public several times, and has definitely gotten a reputation. The truth is that her bark is far worse than her bite. She wouldn't be able to actually kill someone, and she would certainly die within the first few days. That's why I, without thinking, jumped from my window with a kunai.

Now, it's not to say I'll be able to kill everyone in the arena with the simple wave of my hand. In fact, I couldn't imagine myself charging into battle, and killing someone. That's just not me. I've never been one for direct confrontation. It's too unpredictable.

Anyways, the one thing I had more of than my sister was training. Now, I was in no way a Career. I never planned on entering the Hunger Games, nor did I ever want to actually fight someone. I guess it just sort of… happened. I've never exactly been 'normal'. Always the loner without any friends. Always the one who is an invisible and fades into the background.

That being said, I felt like I had no purpose in life. All I did was stay at home and read, and pretty much never went anywhere. Then I met Rowan. Rowan was an elderly man who spent most of his time on the outskirts of town, begging for money. Of course, my district had the compassion of a dead squirrel, which meant he made next to nothing. One day, I gave him some of my lunch, since I didn't exactly have a ton of money, and we ate together.

We continued this ritual almost every day. Now, I know what you're thinking. What kind of girl sits on the side of the street and shares her lunch with a dirt poor beggar? Well, the weird kind, which is the only kind of girl I am.

After a month or so, he offered to show me something that was in his house. Red flags went up everywhere in my mind, but I followed him anyways. Curiosity killed the cat. We made it to his house, and he showed me his 'tool' shed. The inside was filled with books. Books, and rusty weapons. That's when he told me his big secret. He was part of an organization called the Masked Men. They used stealth and agility to get what they wanted, when they wanted.

He offered to teach me some of what he knew, since no one had taken any interest in him in years. I agreed happily, finally feeling as though I had some purpose in society. He taught me more and more about this organization, and soon I was hooked. I spent all my time reading books about the Masked Men, and was constantly working on my running and endurance.

Eventually, I got to the point where he thought it was appropriate to train with weapons. Sadly, all his weapons were rusty and pretty much unusable. He never had to use them because apparently he wasn't really begging on the streets. He was pick pocketing! No one suspected a grungy, old man to be a pickpocket!

Anyways, getting a little off track. This is when Tobias comes in. He was a blacksmith, who also did some illegal business. I ordered the weapons, and he made them as quickly as he could. I paid for them with a mixture of my money, and Rowan's money. I trained, and trained, until I was fairly good. Now, I was only okay with a kunai. The weapon I was really great with was a kusarigama. It was pretty much a chain with a weight on one end, and a claw like thing on the other. Besides those two weapons, I wasn't very good at fighting. I guess I was just interested in the 'stealth' part since it just sounded so cool!

Anyways, I never became a full member of the guild. To become a member, you had to assassinate someone. Yeah, not on the top of my To Do list.

Suddenly, I was jarred out of my thoughts by the cease in movement. The door opened, and President Raven and Head Gamemaker Lavender pounced in.

"Time to meet your mentors," Lavender grinned.

"Yes, Lavender you deliver her to the proper destination. I have other matters to attend to." Raven waved.

There in that moment, I was trying to decide which woman scared me more. Raven may be a bit cruel and bloodthirsty, but Lavender was just plain viscous. Well, both of them were psychopaths.

Lavender undid my bonds, and she grabbed my wrist firmly. She led me through the hovercraft, and down to the roof. I realized we were on the Training Center. This was great, just great. I was obviously not dreaming like I was hoping.

She shoved me into the elevator, and hit the nine button. We shot downward, and I let out a little squeak. Lavender let out a small cackle, and I just glared at her. One thing my sister and I had in common is that we didn't like to be shoved around.

The doors opened, and she led me out.

"Everyone, wake up!" Lavender screamed at the top of her lungs.

The boy who was reaped, Hawk, and one of the mentors came out of the dining room. Our attractive male escort came out of his room, and another girl came out of hers. Her name was Lorie, I believe.

"What is going on?" Lorie groaned.

"Who is this?" The male mentor asked.

"This is Ace Fortune, and she will be your new tribute." Lavender stated.

"What happened to Kairi?" Hawk asked worriedly.

"She was found dead. She must have had a seizure of some sort, and she fell on a broken vase. Poor girl, but the show must go on," Lavender yawned, as if she was discussing the weather instead of someone's life.

"Well, at least the female tribute from District Nine might make it to Day Two if we're lucky," Lorie snorted, "Hopefully, Ace isn't a complete retard like her predecessor."

I felt a sharp pang of anger flash through me. I opened my mouth to say something, but Hawk beat me to it.

Literally.

His fist went right into Lorie's face, and he beat her down to the ground. I glanced over at Lavender, and she just smiled as if she was in complete and utter bliss.

"If you ever say another bad word about Kairi, I swear you will receive far worse than a bloody nose," Hawk roared.

Lorie looked completely shocked and hurt, but that soon changed. She leapt up off her butt, and launched herself at Hawk. He quickly sidestepped her, and kicked her in the stomach. She crumbled to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Well, have a good day everyone!" Lavender laughed. She pranced out of the room, and I turned back to the room of my new 'allies'. Every single one of them was glaring at me, and I gulped. This was going to be a very long last few days of my life…

**District One:**

**Cami's POV:**

I opened my eyes, and let a smile spread across my face. Today was the first day of Training. Today was the day I got to make my mark, and prove to everyone I was the best Career. Today was one of the most important days of my life, and there was no way I was going to screw it up.

I flew out of bed, and sprinted into the bathroom. I quickly showered, and took care of any and all hygiene issues. When I left the room, I noticed there was an outfit spread across my bed. I simply walked past it, and began digging in my dresser. No one told _me_ what to wear.

I eventually decided my best choice was simply black, leather pants with a bright red shirt. I slipped into some simple running shoes, and threw a black jacket on. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, and smirked. Yeah, I looked badass.

I practically skipped out of the room, and down the hallway. I took a sharp left, and entered the dining room. Everyone else was already up and ready. Well I was always the last one up back home so why would it be any different here?

"Oh, I was just about to come wake you!" Vladimir cheered. Oh, how I hated this stupid, annoying escort. He was like a puppy that you continually kicked, yet it kept following you around. I swear, some people just couldn't take the hint of "I don't like you so don't talk to me".

"How very kind," I commented sarcastically.

"Be nice," Rouge hissed, "He's just doing his job."

I sat down next to her, and hissed back, "Of what, being an idiot? "

Rouge didn't reply, and simply continued to eat her breakfast. I served myself my food, and practically inhaled it.

"Someone's excited," Copper laughed. I sent him a smirk, and continued to finish the last of it. Once everyone was done eating, Copper piped up again, "What's your plans for training?"

"Make the Career alliance," I replied instantly.

"I don't know…" Stark whispered.

"Just stick together and everything will be okay," Rouge commented.

"Because you did such a great job with that…" I muttered under my breath. If Rouge heard me, she didn't acknowledge it, and she continued to pick at her food. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get a rise out of her ever again. Rouge was an actress. She put up an ice wall between us, and there was no way she was ever going to let me see her upset again. I was practically dead to her now.

For some reason, this new fact upset me. I mean, yes, I didn't like her. Still, she was my mentor. She was supposed to be there for me… but, I guess I wasn't exactly the easiest tribute in history. Oh well, screw her! I can win these games without any sponsors, no problem! All I need is my brain, and my skills.

"Well, you two need to get down to the training room! The three of us will be out in the Capitol, getting as many sponsors as possible!" Vladimir yelled.

With that, he practically chased Stark and me to the elevator. The doors closed behind us, and we stood there in an awkward silence. We never really had talked before, but I did know one thing about Stark. He was hiding something. That meant, that I wanted him as close to me as possible.

"Are you planning on joining the Careers?" I asked as the elevator descended.

"I'm not sure…" Stark mumbled.

"Well you should. As you know, I'm going to be the leader of the Careers, and who better to be my right hand man than my own District Partner?"

Stark's head snapped towards me. "You mean it?" he asked. He was completely shocked.

"You're the only one I can trust not to stab me in the back," I said honestly.

"Well… okay… I'll join the Careers." Stark smiled.

I smiled too, and just replied with, "Good."

The elevator opened, and both of us stepped in the Training Room.

I was in heaven.

My eyes immediately went over to the many weapons. All of them were so much nicer than the ones back home. Part of me wanted to run over to them, and start swinging them around like no tomorrow. The other part knew that training before the Head Trainer said so would be a _very_ bad idea.

I noticed most of the competition was already here, and we were just waiting for Districts Nine and Thirteen. After a few minutes, District Thirteen showed up, and I began to examine them. We knew nothing about them. We had no idea what kind of work kids did in District Thirteen, which meant they could have skills no one else had. It would be a good idea to keep my eyes on them, but not confront them. If they were skilled, I certainly didn't want to make myself a target.

After another few minutes, District Nine showed up, and confusion spread across everyone's faces. I looked from face to face, and then my eyes fell upon the man from District Seven. He was _smiling_. The kind of smile that said he knew something that no one else did. The kind of smile that immediately put him on my radar.

Chiron, the Head Trainer piped up. "Kairi Renn died last night in an accident. Ace Fortune will be taking her place as the District Nine female tribute."

After that, Chiron continued on with the rules, as if what he just said was no big deal! No tribute had ever died before the games in my lifetime. It was unheard of! It was thought to be impossible. Yet, here is the impossible. I completely blocked out Chiron's ramblings, and observed Ace. She wouldn't have been picked unless there was something special about her.

However, all I saw was a fifteen year old girl. She had her black hair in pig tails, and was wearing a fairly child-like outfit. Her eyes were bloodshot, and filled with fear. Maybe she was chosen because she was weak. It would make sense to replace a weak tribute with another weak tribute.

Chiron signaled for us to go, and I immediately went over to the melee weapons station. I stopped myself from grabbing the weapons, and put two fingers in my mouth. I emitted an extremely loud whistle, and practically everyone stopped what they were doing. "I want tributes from Districts One, Two, and Four over here _now._"

I had to smile at myself when I saw all of them obey. Some of them looked pissed that I was ordering them around, but they still listened. Their obedience was all I craved. I could care less about their 'precious' feelings.

"I want each of you to show me what you got if you plan on joining the Careers."

"Who died and made you leader?" Jordana piped in.

I sent my best death glare towards her. Even Miss Muscular couldn't handle it for more than a few seconds.

"Don't you think we need a… you know… _real_ leader?" Apollo mentioned.

My temper immediately flared up. Arguing with me could be acceptable at times, but demeaning my skills was _never_ acceptable.

"What exactly do you mean by that comment?" I hissed.

"Just that it's not a woman's job to lead. Men are the natural born leaders." Apollo stated.

The amusing thing was that he thought he was right. His face was one hundred percent solemn, and I knew he must be taking this seriously.

"Have you ever seen President Raven? She is an amazing leader!" I scoffed.

"She never led a group of bloodthirsty Careers in the Hunger Games," Apollo argued.

"True, but she leads a bunch of babbling idiots. It's not that different from leading someone like you. So, you can leave, or you can stay in the Careers, and let me do what I do best."

Apollo put his hands up in a surrender stance, and took a few steps back. I sent him a smile, and turned back to the rest of the group. "Any other objections?"

A chorus of 'no' was my answer, and my smile stretched even wider.

"So show me what you got?"

I smiled as they kind of looked at each other, deciding who would go first. I rolled my eyes, and stepped towards the maces. I was good with most melee weapons, but ask me to hit someone with a throwing knife and I was as good as dead.

I picked up a nice, silver mace, and begin to beat one of the dummies senseless with it. I continued to strike certain parts of it with finesses and agility. I stepped back from my handy work. It wasn't the best fighting technique, but it certainly got the job done.

"Next," I laughed as I dropped the mace, and took a seat on the sidelines. In truth, I was going to accept them all no matter what. The only way I wouldn't is if they had no training at all, and couldn't fight to save their lives. The first to step up was Leith. He automatically went to the spears. Of course, how original. It seemed that all District Four tributes were either good with a spear or trident.

However, I was pleasantly surprised at Leith's skills. He was strong, fast, and seemed to have good endurance. He was better at throwing the spears, but he also had an adequate amount of skill in hand to hand combat with it as well. Once he was done, I nodded and smiled at him.

He walked over, and stood behind me. Jordana immediately followed him up, and went straight for the swords. She grabbed one of them, and started hacking away at a dummy. She didn't exactly have any sort of technique or form; she was just using her brute strength.

After completely demolishing a dummy, she walked over to the axes, and grabbed one made for throwing. She picked it up, and chucked it. It didn't hit the target in the best place, but it hit the target with such speed and force that it appeared to move the target backwards a couple inches. Dang, this girl was extremely strong. She looked at me with a smug expression on her face, and I rolled my eyes. I motioned for her to come join me, and I waited expectantly for the next Career.

Apollo took the stage, and grabbed a sword. However, his sword was far different from Jordana's. Jordana took the largest sword at the station, while Apollo seemed to pick a lighter, shorter one. Apollo charged one of the dummies, and went to town on it. He wasn't as brutal as Jordana, but his strikes were far more precise and possible deadly. Wow, he wasn't that bad for a Career with an eye patch.

I nodded, and waited for the last two Careers. Stark and Oceana. I knew Stark was hiding something, and Oceana seemed a bit mysterious as well. Whether their 'secrets' were that they could fight was still to be seen.

Stark stepped up next, and went over to the knives hesitantly. He grabbed one, and seemed to be thinking deeply. Perhaps about how much skill he should show? Of course, I could just be paranoid.

Stark flicked the knife at one of the targets with an impressive amount of speed. It went flying straight at the target, and hit near the center. He threw a few more knives, and all of them landed near the center, but not dead on. I nodded at him, and my mind was reeling. He was hiding _something_. I just had to figure out what it was before he tried to kill me with it…

Oceana walked over to the tridents, and slowly reached for one of the smaller ones. Again, what I wouldn't give for a tribute from four who knew how to use a bow and arrow, or perhaps even an axe. Oceana picked it up, and walked over to the dummies. She jabbed clumsily, and tried not to fall over. Obviously, she had never used a trident that was so heavy.

"Come on, Angelfish, time is ticking," I yelled. She shot a glare back at me, and I just smiled. All she needed was a little motivation, and hopefully anger would do the trick.

She readied her trident, and stabbed again. She stuck the dummy through with it, just like you would a fish, and she yanked back. She effectively tore off one of its arms, and dropped the trident. She turned to me, obviously waiting for my judgment.

"You got a long way to go, but you're in," I yelled.

A smile spread across her face, and she joined the rest of our group. "Now, I want at least two other people to join our group. Who do you guys want in this alliance?"

"Asita," Apollo said almost immediately. Jordana rolled her eyes, but stayed silent.

"The girl from District Eleven," Leith whispered. I looked over at her, and saw she was talking with the two remaining bloodbath younglings.

"I want the boy from District Seven," I commented, "and we can see about Asita. I doubt bird girl will want anything to do with us, though."

"Sweet," Apollo smiled. Jordana looked infuriated, but continued to stay silent. Someone didn't want to look bad in front of Apollo…

"Asita, show us what you got!" Leith yelled. I followed his gaze to a surprised Asita at the track station. She quickly caught on to what we were doing and she started sprinting around the track. I had to admit, she was fairly fast. However, I knew for a fact I was almost as fast as her, and that I definitely had better endurance than she did.

Once she was done, she walked over to the knife station. She grabbed a fairly small dagger, and tried to attack one of the dummies. It was obvious she wasn't the best fighter. I mean, she could stab the dummy in the gut, and slice across its throat, but so could that little twerp from Ten. She turned around, and she smiled at us. It wasn't the kind of smile that all the others Careers had. It was a smile that wasn't full of cockiness. It was a smile to cover up how nervous she was.

So we had a little actress. Even though she seemed like a survivor, I still wasn't sure about accepting her. I was about to shake my head, when I quickly took in my surroundings. Apollo looked worried, Jordana looked smug, and the others looked bored. Obviously, they knew that I was going to say no.

_More would be better, and the maximum should be eight or nine. Once you have a group that big, it's easy to divert the attention away from yourself by either causing mischief in the pack, spreading lies and rumors, or possibly purposefully placing certain people in the Career pack that despise each other. The best thing is if it was some long last drama. That way, there is no time to think about ditching the pack, or mutiny._

Rouge's advice was really helpful.

"All right, you're in."

"What?" Everyone said almost simultaneously.

Jordana was pissed, Apollo and Asita were ecstatic, and everyone else was completely bewildered.

"Did I stutter?" I snarled.

Obviously, there was a little love triangle going on. Well, it was certainly going to divert attention away from me. In fact, at the way things were going, I practically had this game in the palm of my hand.

"This doesn't make any s-" Jordana began.

"Jordana, question me one more time today and I swear you'll be out of this group just like _that_!" I hissed as I snapped my fingers.

Jordana's mouth shut quickly, but she still remained very rigid. Asita walked and stood next to Apollo. She linked arms with him, and waited quietly.

"Time to go get the District Seven boy. The rest of you, go train. I'll be back in a little bit." I ordered. The Careers dispersed, and I immediately saw the factions. Oceana and Leith went one way, while Stark went the complete opposite way by himself. Asita, Jordana, and Apollo were all having a conversation, and I couldn't help but smile at my handiwork. Asita and Jordana were competing for Apollo's attention, and he seemed fairly oblivious. I couldn't tell if either of them actually _loved_ him, or if it was just some twisted competition. Either way, I won.

I spun back around, and sauntered over to the District Seven male. Right now, he was looking at a rack of weapons with a gleam in his eyes. "Why, hello there," I smiled.

The man turned around, and regarded me with a simply nod.

"How would you feel about joining the Careers?" I asked.

"Well, does your pack deserve me talents?"

I let out a loud laugh, and glared at him. "Someone's a little cocky."

The man smiled, and picked up one of the weapons. "It's not cocky if you know it's true."

I glanced down at the weapon, and realized it reminded me of some sort of saw. It was more of a hybrid between an axe and a saw, which made if fairly lethal.

"What skills are we talking about?"

"Torture," the man practically whispered in my ear.

I restrained myself from trembling, and just continued to smile at him. "That's always a helpful talent. Feel free to join the Careers."

"I'll certainly think about it." The man chuckled. We continued to smile at each other without any humor. The Hunger Games were a contest, and I just found someone who could definitely rival me.

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth's POV:**

I was going to see them die. See the life leave their eyes, and watch as they bleed to death. Then, I would just have to be content with knowing that they were going to burn in hell.

"Ruth, okay?" Devon asked.

My head snapped up, and I smiled at Devon. No, I was nowhere near okay. The _Careers_ were only fifty feet away from me. The evil, trained killers that I had been looking forward to killing for so long. Some people might think I'm a little crazy. I mean, who blames someone they never even met for their sister's death.

Well, it wasn't necessarily that I blamed them. In fact, I knew that they had no part in Catalina's death. The thing was, I never was going to find out who killed her. That fact just ate away at my sanity every day.

So, to make up for never finding her killer, I was going to do the next best thing. Kill six inhumane killing machines that deserved to die. It was the only way I was going to avenge her death. The only way I could think of.

"Sorry, I just zoned out," I laughed. Devon's face relaxed and we went back to trying to memorize some of the edible plants. If Devon knew what my true plan was, I bet he would try to convince me not to go through with it. He knew I disliked the Careers, but what he didn't know was that I was planning on killing them. If he knew that, then maybe he might just rethink having an alliance with me…

We continued to try and learn these plants, but both of soon realized how hopeless we were. The thing was, both of us didn't grow up in the Seam. He was always trading things in the Hob, which lead him to not having to learn about edible plants. I've always lived in a fairly 'upscale' lifestyle, and have never had to hunt for food. So, unless one of us developed photographic memory within the next few days, we were screwed.

Suddenly, I heard the clang of a sword, and my head spun around. The boy from District Thirteen was sparring with one of the trainers, and had obviously just disarmed him. However, the thing that caught all of our attention was the fact that the boy from Thirteen looked like he wasn't even breaking a sweat. As if he had been doing this his entire life…

His District Partner, the rebel girl, walked up behind him, and patted him on the back. They were in an alliance, and seemed to be fairly dependant on each other. I wasn't sure if they were _friends_, but they trusted each other. Perhaps it had to do with the fact it was the first time their District was participating in the Hunger Games.

The bad thing was that Devon and I weren't the only ones who noticed this.

"Nice arm," the girl from District One said casually. She walked over to them with a wolfish smile on her face. I had observed her earlier when she went up to the man from District Seven. Her smile than was more coy, and more friendly. This smile conveyed that instead of wanting to 'be friends', she wanted to tear them to shreds. She was going in for the kill.

"Thanks," the boy from Thirteen said.

"Hey, let's get a closer look," I whispered to Devon.

Before Devon could argue, I gripped his wrist and dragged him to a station closer to the situation at hand. We both took a seat at the knot tying station. Devon immediately dove into working, while I absent mindedly played with the rope in front of me. I knew I was blatantly staring, but who cared. This could be useful later in the games.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so. I also caught the girl from three, the girl from six, and the boy from nine watching the spectacle as well. Everyone else seemed to be working, and trying not to get noticed. Only an insane person would want to get in the middle of _that_.

"It will be a shame when that strong arm of yours is chopped clean off your body," the girl from one smirked.

"What's going to happen first, though? His arm being mutilated or a knife sailing straight into your heart." The girl from Thirteen snarled.

"Ayla!" The boy hissed.

"Shut up, Alexei." Ayla growled.

"Yeah, shut up, Alexei. Listen to the bald girl." The girl from one mocked.

"Cami, that's enough. Come back," I heard the girl from Four reprimand her ally.

"Now, to answer your question, badly. There is no way a knife is sailing into my heart. It's just a fact." Cami laughed.

Remember how I said no sane person would get into the middle of this? Well, you've officially met Mrs. Crazy.

"Cami is right," I yelled as I stood up. I walked over to Ayla and Alexei. I glanced over at Devon, and saw him pleading at me with his eyes to stop. "There's no way a knife is ever going to imbed itself into your heart, because you obviously don't have one."

I heard a chorus of snickers, and Cami's wolfish smile turned to one of complete and utter disgust. "Watch your mouth."

"You clearly don't have a brain as well, since it's darn near impossible to physically watch one's mouth."

Cami's fists clenched and unclenched. She opened her mouth to say something else witty, but her District Partner was at her side. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder, and shook his head. Surprisingly enough, Cami listened, and spun around without a word. She stomped back to her Career Pack, and I let out an earsplitting cackle. She glared at me one last time, and I knew what that look meant. It meant that in her mind, I was already dead. Well, we'll just see which one of us ends up dead…

"What were you thinking?" Devon hisses as he marches over to me.

"That was absolutely brilliant," Ayla giggled.

"I'd say," Alexei smiled.

We quickly introduced ourselves, and everyone was all smiles except Devon. "You do realize we are now on the top of her hit list."

"Good. She'll find us faster, which means one less Career to deal with," Ayla smirked.

"So I'm not the only one with a hatred for the Careers," I laughed.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'us'?" Devon questioned.

"We're allies, right?" Ayla asked.

"Of course," I smiled.

"Ruth!" Devon hissed.

"What?"

"You could have at least asked me!"

"And what would your response have been?"

"Well, it would have been yes, bu-"

"See, no harm no fowl." I laughed.

Both Alexei and Ayla laughed with me, but Devon continued to be a bit moody.

After a little more small talk, I asked the question that had been bothering me, "How did you know how to use a sword so well?"

"I trained," Alexei stated. For a split second, I felt myself go on the defense. Was District Thirteen a Career District as well?

"Yeah, Alexei's wicked with a sword, while I have more skills with throwing knives," Ayla smirked.

"So you're Careers?'

"No, we train to survive, not kill." Ayla seethed, "which is why I absolutely loath the Careers. Their entire morals system is almost nonexistent."

I liked this girl. I felt the tension immediately leave my body. Oh yeah, this was going to be a fabulous alliance. The lunch bell rang, and I just continued to smirk. Half of my first training day was over, and I already landed myself a four person alliance. So far, the Hunger Games looked almost easy. However, I was soon going to learn that nothing is what it seems at first…

**So, I want to apologize for the super late update. I think it's been a week or so, which is long for me. You see, I have two excuses, one valid and the other not. The first excuse is that my life is super hectic right now. Seriously, I go to school at eight, and get home around five or six. Then, once I'm done with homework, I really don't feel like writing. However, I will always find time to write, and Training Day One Part Two will be up soon! **

**Oh yeah, and my second reason is that I got Skyrim as a present, and guess who is addicted XD MEEEEEEE! Haha so yes, pleeeeeaaase review! I really want to know you're all still there, and some of you haven't reviewed since the Reapings, so I'm scared you've left me 0_0**

**Anywho, I hope there was a sufficient amount of drama in this chapter. I know most of it revolved around the Careers, but next chapter will have way more nonCareer events, I promise :D **


	22. Training Day One: Part Two

**Training Day One:**

**Part Two:**

**District Eight:**

**Lyric's POV:**

It was like high school all over again.

Everyday when I went to school, I always had to look for a place to sit. I had people who would say 'hi' to me in class, but no one to actually sit with at lunch. I was never a very social child, and to make everything worse, everyone thought I was a tad weird.

Well, in all honesty, I was weird. I had a habit of wanting everything perfect, which tended to annoy everyone around me. Also, I sometimes say things that are a little _too_ honest, and that tends to turn people away as well. Still, that was high school, and this was the Hunger Games. I was at least hoping to find _someone_ to sit with. I guess I should have used logic and deduced that I couldn't find a friend within a group of hundreds of people. What were the chances of finding a friend within a group of twenty-five people?

I let out a heavy sigh, and walked over to the nearest table. It was empty, and was ideal because it was at the corner of the room. It was a great place to lay low, and steer clear of the Career's wrath. I looked across the room, and noticed that almost everyone was sitting by themselves. The Careers were sitting together, and so were the tributes from District Twelve and Thirteen. I also saw the girl from District Eleven sitting with the two smaller boys, Davis and Scarlett. I heard the girl, Sage, calling Scarlett by the name "Scar". She said it was a term of endearment, but the little boy didn't seem to like it. He was the kind of kid that didn't like any idea unless it was _his._

Others began to come into the lunch room, which meant I'd probably see who else was either becoming allies or becoming closer. I let out another sigh, and glared at my food. I knew it was delicious, but I had lost my appetite when I saw the girl from District Two swinging an axe around like it was a toothpick.

My mind wandered to my parents. I was starting to regret forcing them out of the waiting room. I knew it was not, uhm, very supportive of them to act like I was going to die, but it was understandable. The odds were against my favor, and everyone knew it. I had hope that I'd make it past the bloodbath, but what then? What was I going to do? Hide? Kill? Forage?

The different choices were endless, and whatever decision I made would be a huge factor in whether I lived or died. I pulled my token out of my pocket, and sighed again. This passed the inspection almost immediately, because it was almost impossible to make this a weapon. It was a golden watch that had been passed down through my family for awhile. It was old, and there was no place to hide any poison or sharp objects.

I thought of what my grandfather was thinking right now. He was a cold, cruel man who got on top because of his ability to screw everyone over. He would want me to do that. Lure allies in with some sort of innocent act, and then stab them in the back. It was highly possible because I had a 'baby face', and big, round blue eyes. I looked more like I was fifteen than seventeen. However, there is something my grandfather would forget to add in to his strategy.

I couldn't backstab someone to save my life.

I was a _nice_ person. I was nothing like him.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sudden, "Can I sit here?"

My eyes snapped up to the owner of the voice. It was the new girl, Ace. She looked extremely nervous, and was almost _hopping_ up and down.

"Sure."

Her entire body relaxed, and she quickly sat down. "Oh thank Panem! I've already been rejected by three people, and it stinks! I guess no one wants to be seen with the girl who replaced the dead, mentally unstable tribute. Speaking of mentally unstable people, have you _seen_ Ayla from District Thirteen? Anyone who flips off the Capitol on national television must not be very mentally stable! Oh my gosh, we got the same food! That's hilarious! Oh, and my name is Ace! My family calls me Full House since you have to be really lucky to get one. See the relation between 'Full House' and 'Ace'? Anyways, I actually hate it when people call me lucky since I'm so _unlucky!_ I mean, I was reaped for the Hunger Games, right? What's your name, again?"

I felt my mouth had dropped into a small 'O'. No wonder no one let this girl sit with them. She obviously didn't know how to stop talking. Plus, her thoughts didn't exactly make sense, since I saw no relation between mentally unstable people and food.

Still, I wasn't going to complain. Even if a loudmouthed, semi-annoying girl wanted to talk to me, at least it was someone.

"It's Lyric." I murmured.

Ace's eyes lit up, and she began talking again, "Oh my dear District Nine! That is _such_ a pretty name! I love lyrics in songs, and to be named after something so beautiful! Do you sing? I love listening to people sing. I would sing myself, but I'm tone deaf!"

Ace's eyes popped open, and she blushed a deep red. "I can't believe I just told you I'm tone deaf! I'm so embarrassed!"

Instead of blabbering on and on about how embarrassed she was, she turned her attention to her food. This girl wasn't exactly 'normal', but I found her entertaining. What better match than the guy who barely says two words, and the girl who can't shut up? Perhaps I just made a friend, or maybe even an ally!

"It's okay. I sound like a drowning cat when I sing," I reassured.

Ace's head shot up, and she had a big smile on her face. "Really? I adore cats! They are so smart, agile, and independent. You know, I have this _one _story involving chasing a cat through District Nine. Do you want to hear it? Wait, what am I thinking, of course you want to hear it! Okay, so I was out getting a book from the library when I saw this little boy. He really wanted…"

I continued to stare at her, as if interested, when I really just tuned her out. This was going to take some getting used to. I had a feeling this was going to be a long lunch…

**District Six:**

**Lucy's POV:**

I continued to pick at my food, but didn't take too many bites. I was a _mutt_. My body was made to survive on low amounts of food and water. After taking just a few bites of this food, I was stuffed. If any normal human watched me eat, they would probably think I was anorexic. Good news was that I was still under the radar. I looked completely normal and non-threatening. Most of the tributes probably thought I was a bloodbath.

I remembered Raven's orders earlier today. It was simple, really. I was to become allies with a certain tribute, and eventually cause a certain aspect of drama to happen. The Capitol was going to adore it. It was a simple order, and would be very easy to execute.

Nonetheless, I was still a little worried. What if she rejected me? What if she thought I was too weak? The one thing I hated about being a human-like mutt was the emotions that came along with it. Seriously, emotions were extremely useless. They usually got you killed instead of keeping you alive. So far, my least favorite emotions had to be anxiety, and guilt. They were very bothersome.

I was just about to get the nerve to go talk to my target when Adam popped up. Without even asking, he slid into the seat next to me, and I felt my brow furrow.

"Hey Lucy," he began, "How's it going?" I glanced over at him, and saw he had s small, flirtatious smile on his face. Adam was officially the most persistent, annoying person I had ever met.

"And what, may I ask, gave you the impression you were allowed to sit next to me?"

"The fact that I know, deep down, you want me to."

Did this tribute really have no morals? I was engineered to be _fifteen_. He was seventeen! Well, I guess two years wasn't that big of an age difference. Still, when I thought of him hitting on fifteen year old Winnifred, which he hadn't _yet_, I was disgusted.

"Obviously you need to get over your ego, and realize no girl wants a man who is desperate enough to hit on anything that has a pulse." I hissed.

"At least I'm not into necrophilia." He joked.

Even I had to smile a little at his quick wit. It was a funny joke, and I felt myself warming up to him a _little bit._ Well, at least I was until I felt him put his hand on my thigh.

Apparently he took my smile as confirmation I wanted to bang him, which was the farthest thing from the truth. My smile immediately vanished, and I slapped Adam as hard as I could. The sound resonated through the lunch room, and almost all conversations stopped.

Crap.

I was flying under the radar so well until this! For a few seconds, it was dead silent. The only thing that seemed to make any noise was my heart, and the pulsing red handprint on Adam's face.

Then, I heard someone yell out, "He deserved it. Good job, Lucy!"

I glanced towards the Career table, and saw Asita beginning to clap. I suddenly remembered how he had said something to her before the Chariot Rides, and she bit his ear so hard he bled. At least someone was on my side.

Soon, a good chunk of the Careers were clapping and hollering. They laughed, and soon everyone went back to either talking or eating their food. Adam glared at me, obviously not liking the embarrassment. He picked up his food, walked towards the door, and slammed it into the trash can. He walked into the bathroom, and I heard something else crash in their as well. Someone certainly didn't have any control of their temper.

I simply shook my head, and went back to picking at my food. Adam actually seemed like a fairly nice guy when his upstairs brain was thinking instead of his downstairs brain, if you catch my drift. Still, I certainly wasn't going to take any more crap from his, and hopefully this little event pounded that into both of his brains.

I picked up my food, and also threw it away. I felt an arm on my shoulder, and I turned around. It was the girl from District Thirteen, Ayla.

"Nice swing back there. Do you think that, maybe, you want to join our little group?"

I looked over her shoulder, and saw the rest of her pack looking at me. Ruth was actually _smiling_, while both Alexei and Devon seemed to be trying to anticipate my answer. I also noticed the Careers staring at me. My plan was to stay under the radar, and joining their little alliance would produce the opposite effect.

"No thanks," I said as lightly as I could, and I brushed past her. I set my sights on my prey, and walked towards her table. This girl was one of the most interesting tributes in the game, simply because of her previous relationship with her District Partner. Even if she didn't know it, she was going to be one of the stars of these up and coming Hunger Games. Well, maybe not a _star_, but she certainly was going to have a slow and painful death.

"Hello, I'm Lucy, mind if I sit here?" The girl nodded simply, and I smiled.

Time to go in for the kill.

**District Seven:**

**Lucian's POV:**

The lunch bell rang, and everyone began to disperse back to the Training Room. I let out a deep huff, and got out of my seat. I was still contemplating whether or not I should join the Careers. Either decision I made, I was going to be hurting myself.

I'm a loner type of person. I like to hunt alone, and I hate to share my spoils of battle with others. That made refusing my best option for me personally, but then there was the flip side to the coin. If I did join them, it automatically gave me protection. They would watch my back for at least the first week or so, and I would be _safe_. Also, if I rejected them, I was on the top of their hit list, which was a terrible place to be.

No matter what I chose, I got some benefits, but I also screwed myself over.

I walked over to the axe station and moaned. I wanted to continue to train with these beautiful weapons, but it was in my best interest to make sure I learned a few things on survival. I knew things about poisonous and edible plants from spending so much time out in the woods, but that was kind of it. I stopped walking, and looked at the stations spread out before me. The camouflage station was off my list first. I wasn't patient enough to sit somewhere, smeared in Panem knows what, and wait for some unlucky tribute to find me. Patience wasn't my strongest skill. If you want an example of how impatient I am, refer back to the fact I tried to kill Jacqie, and succeeded in killing Kairi. A normal psychotic would have waited, but I definitely wasn't the normal insane man.

Wait… did that make any sense?

I shook my head, and looked from station to station. They still had the swimming station open, and that would definitely be a good skill to pick up. I also noticed that they had some sort of puzzle/maze station. I guess it was to improve one's intelligence. Right now, the girl from District Three, and the girl from District Five were sitting there, furiously working on their puzzles.

It seemed like those were the two brainiacs of the games. Yet, I had a feeling both of them were going to die in the bloodbath. They were both physically weak, and seemed to be emotionally weak. Neither of them could put their brains to use to actually _kill_ someone.

I looked back at the swimming station, and decided that was the place to go. I walked over to it, and looked around. The only other people here were the boy from District Nine, and the girl from District Ten. Neither one of them was doing fabulous, but if they had to they could probably stay afloat in a flood or something.

"Oh, here's your swimsuit. You can go change in the shower stall over there," the trainer pointed. I nodded in thanks, and slipped into the shower/changing area. I slipped out of my clothes, and looked at the skimpy piece of clothing they had given me. I put it on, and to my shock, it seemed to look like the bottom of part of a girl's bikini. Wasn't this…a bit disgraceful?

I stepped out of the stall, a little self conscious. I knew I had a toned body, but any man had to be nervous walking out into public wearing this. I got into the water as soon as possible, and listened to the trainer's instructions. He was a fairly good teacher, but I swear he kept checking out the District Nine's and my butts.

As usually, I tried competing with the two other tributes. The boy from Nine was a far faster swimmer than me, but he didn't have very good endurance. The District Ten girl was way slower than me, but had amazing stamina. She just kept swimming lap after lap. Eventually, all three of us seemed to be getting the knack of it.

The girl and boy both left, but I continued to swim. I kept swimming until I was satisfactory with my performance. I began to walk to the ladder to get out of the pool, when I saw Cami sitting on one of the benches close by. Her legs were crossed, and she just smiled at me. I started to climb out of the pool, and she got up and walked towards me. Once I was out, I saw Cami's gaze had lingered from my face to my body.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. I knew for a fact wasn't very good looking facial feature wise, but I _did_ have a pretty damn fine body.

"Something I can help you with?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

Cami's eyes shot back up to my face, and she scowled. I guess she didn't like being caught ogling at the competition.

"I'm still waiting for your answer on whether or not you're joining the Careers."

"I'm still deciding." I responded.

"You've had enough time to decide. The Careers don't wait for anyone. IF we wait for you to answer, and you say no, we could lose snagging someone else with potential for our alliance."

I pursed my lip, and let my gaze wander. She would probably give me thirty seconds or so to respond before she left. My mind was racing thirty miles an hour. Then, my eyes spotted two tributes. The first tribute was Sage with her two little boys. The second was Jacqie with her new ally, the District Six girl.

I finally knew the compromise I could use to get what I wanted.

"Fine, I'll join your Career alliance on some conditions." I stated.

"We don't do 'conditions'. You're either in, or you're out."

"If there are no conditions, than I'm out."

We glared at each other for a good minute, before she cracked.

"Fine, state them."

"They're actually quite simple. I'll help you hunt down and capture any tribute or tributes you want. All I ask in return is that I get to kill Sage and my District Partner. No one else touches them, and I get to kill them my way, without anyone else interfering. Also, I have to right to put these same conditions on one other tribute of my choosing during the course of the games. If anyone breaks my rules, I get to kill them." I listed.

"Those are certainly a lot of conditions." Cami whispered.

"If you want me, you got to make some sacrifices." I replied.

Cami tapped her foot, and ran her fingers through her dark brown hair.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to kill them so badly?"

"I have some… past issues… with my District Partner, and let's just say I want to make the little songbird sing _my way_."

Cami shuddered a little bit. However, I couldn't help but smile. It wasn't a shudder of disgust, but a shudder of anticipation. So, little Miss Career got off on seeing others in pain. Perhaps we would get along _quite_ well since I tended to get off on that, and off of being in pain. I believe I was once referred to as a 'Sadomasochist". I still don't know what that means, but I take it as a compliment.

"I agree to your conditions, as long as you swear undying loyalty to me. By that, I mean, if the Career alliance breaks down, or if one of them tries to kill me, you fight _for me._ You're on my side as long as we're both still alive."

"You're proposing a hidden alliance, within an alliance," I smirked.

"Not exactly hidden, but yes. Do you agree to that condition?"

I couldn't help but let out a loud guffaw. "An alliance between to two strongest and most mentally unstable tributes in this game? Of course I agree to it!"

She let out another smile. "Good, I'll go tell the alliance about your conditions, and tell them that you're in our group. Just remember, we're both going to leave out _my_ little condition."

She began to walk away, but then turned around. "Oh, and Lucian. Go put some clothes on."

I let out another laugh, and she began to chuckle as well. As she continued to walk away, I couldn't help but smile. Damn, I hated to see her leave, but I certainly _loved _to see her go.

**District Ten:**

**Davis' POV:**

"Come on, Davis! You can do it!"

I looked up towards the top of the climbing wall, and realized both Sage and Scar had gotten to the top. I was still only half way up. I stretched out my arm, and tried to get a firm grip on the climbing rock.

Right when I was beginning to pull myself up, I heard Scar snicker, "Useless."

Sage replied with a hushed, "Scar," and I could practically see him rolling his eyes. My attention was momentarily diverted by the insult, and I lost my grip on the climbing rock. I began falling towards the ground, and I imagined what this would feel like if I was actually going to die.

Then I realized that I very well might die from my lack of ability at climbing.

The safety harness around my waist caught me right before I hit the ground.

"Want to try again, kid?" the trainer asked. She looked like she actually cared, but I just shook my head. All I could hear was the word 'useless' bouncing around in my head. Scar was the first one down from the wall, and I just scowled. The only reason he beat me was because he was faster than I was. I was, in fact, way stronger than him. I was _not_ useless. Sure, he might not die from losing his grip when climbing, but we'll see what happens when he gets into a fight…

I snapped out of my thoughts, and felt complete and utter horror at myself. What was happening to me? I hadn't even finished my first day of training, and I was imaging my _ally's_ death. The disgust at myself only got worse, and I just closed my eyes. I was a good person. I was just scared… That's all… Just scared….

"Are you okay, Davis?" Sage asked as she rushed over to me. I looked up at her, and her concern deepened. She wiped something from my eye, and I realized I had been crying. Oh gosh, that was so embarrassing!

"I-I-I'm fine," I stuttered.

Sage drew me into a hug, and I just smiled. Sage was one of the nicest people I had ever met. She didn't deserve what her stylists did to her. She told me that her mentors told her that the doctors refused to remove her beak. Apparently, it was a huge hit with the Capitol, and they didn't want to upset anyone. The one thing they forgot to consider was how they were hurting one of the nicest tributes these games I had ever seen.

I opened my eyes, and saw Scar openly glaring at me. I was starting to get the vibe that he _really _didn't like me. I didn't know why. I had never done anything to him. In fact, he disliked me before I even said one word to him. Still, what all of us must remember is that I'm just twelve, and he's just thirteen. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that I was childish enough to stick my tongue out at him.

Scar rolled his eyes in the trademark fashion, and donned the face of an excited little boy. He ran up to Sage, and tapped her on the shoulder. "Sage, can we go train with some weapons now?"

Oh great, another thing I'm not good at. That's probably the only reason Scar chose weapons training.

"Sure, Scar. I still have to practice." Sage smiled.

She left our embrace, and we all walked over to the weapons area. Scar immediately went for a small dagger. Sage carefully walked over to a bow, and I just stood by the weapons, feeling completely helpless. I tried to learn how to use some of the weapons earlier, and completely failed at it. I was okay at hand to hand combat, and I could defend myself a little bit with a knife, but that was it. Sage was excelling at archery, and Scar was fairly good with a dagger. I mean, it wasn't necessarily because he had any technique, but he was just so dang fast!

I simply crossed my arms, and watched as my allies became better and better at fighting. Maybe I should just keep trying…

Right when I was going to go try my chances with a knife, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and saw the new girl, Ace. At first, I froze. I knew nothing about her, and knowing that she replaced a dead girl made her automatically intimidating. Then, I looked into her eyes, and saw them twinkle a little bit.

"Are you looking for a weapon to train with?" she asked.

"Uh…. Yes…." I mumbled.

"Lyric, hand me that fan over there." Ace yelled.

"This thing?" Lyric asked.

"Yes," she hissed.

The boy from District Eight handed her the fan, and I just gave her a confused look. How was this fan a weapon? She smiled at me, and opened it up. I gasped when I saw a metal edge pop up.

"It's called a war fan. It's used for throwing, but can also be used to hand to hand combat. It's also great for deflecting long rang weapons, and even some close rang weapons if you get good enough. It's perfect for a kid like you." She smiled.

"Thanks…" I whispered.

"You're welcome! I was never very good with it, but you are probably far smarter than me. You can probably figure it out before I say Golly Gee!"

With that odd phrase, she grabbed Lyric's wrist, and flounced away. Well, she was certainly an odd duck. I picked up the war fan cautiously. This could absolutely end badly. I walked over to some of the targets, and threw my fan. It soared through the air, and landed several feet away from the target.

"What kind of _weapon_ is that?" Scar asked.

"An interesting one," I muttered.

I ran over, and grabbed it. I threw it, and missed. I repeated this process, until I realized if you threw it a certain way it would come back to you. Well, not directly to you, but fairly close. I tried some hand to hand combat with it, and realized it was easy for me to use it. I held it kind of like a claw we used back home to get rid of any weeds out in the pasture.

My daddy taught me how to use that… before he…

"I'm glad you finally found something you can use," Sage smiled.

I was shocked out of my thoughts, and smiled back. So what if using fans as a weapon was girly and nerdy? If it kept me alive, then maybe I had a chance. I knew there was a slim chance they would even be in the arena, but there still was a _chance_. And as long as there was a chance, I would keep fighting. That's all I could do… keep fighting for my life…

**District Thirteen:**

**Alexei's POV:**

So far, this alliance thing was working out really well. Just like Devon, I had my reservations about it. I mean, I barely trusted Ayla, let alone two other people from a different District. However, I soon found out how beneficial this was to all of us.

For example, Ayla taught Devon how to throw a knife fairly well, which meant he could use his knife for long ranged and close ranged combat. Ayla offered to teach Ruth, but Ruth almost had some sort of meltdown. She was a bit of a wild card, but her strengths made her worth it.

Ruth had begun to teach all of us different pressure points on and in the human body, while Devon taught us the art of haggling. At first, I thought it was completely useless, but then Devon pointed out that sometime during the game we might be haggling for our lives.

Sadly, I didn't bring much to the group teaching wise. I knew how to use a sword fairly well, but the only person who seemed to have any talent with a sword was Ruth, and it wasn't a lot. Still, I couldn't imagine this alliance getting any better. The only thing that would have been great is if that Lucy chick would have joined us. There was just something about her that made me believe she was more powerful than she seemed. Whether that meant she would make a good ally or not, we will never know.

I stopped practicing my skills with the sword, and looked around. It was about time I sized up the competition. The Careers had spent most of their time showing off their skills, which they certainly did posses. They were a threat, and I had no desire to meet any of them in the arena. The only Career who I didn't see as a threat was the District Eight girl. She was obviously a complete idiot who the Careers let in for no reason.

Most people would look at the District Three tributes and see two bloodbaths, but I saw it a little different. The boy, Thomas, was quiet, but had a brain. I noticed him at the electricity station, and wire stations several times. He seemed to be an inventor of sorts. Valhalla was different. I could tell she was purposefully trying to avoid attention. For example, anytime the Careers or my alliance went a certain way, she would usually switch stations or head a different direction. She didn't want to be noticed, and that caught my attention immediately. The only thing I had seen her spending a lot of time at was the trap station. Still, she was hiding something else… I was just sure of it!

The District Five girl seemed smart, and I saw her spending a good chunk of her time at the plant identification station. She obviously had a good memory, and it showed. The other station I saw her at was the archery station. The only reason I saw this was because she almost skewered Devon with a misfired arrow. She wasn't very good at it, but she seemed to be getting a little bit better every time I saw her wander over to it. Not good enough to take _me_ down, but good enough to maybe hunt some kind of animal.

The District Five boy was exactly like Valhalla in the sense he was purposefully flying under the radar. This, of course, made me observe him even more. The one thing I could say about him was that he was fast! I would pay good money to see him and Hawk in a foot race, because I had no idea who would win.

Adam was…. Well, he was a tool. He had plenty of physical strength, and he could bench more than me. I saw him at the weight lifting station quite often. He also seemed fairly good at hand to hand combat, but that wouldn't save him. If he didn't start using his brain, he was as good as dead.

No comment on Lucy. I couldn't get a vibe off of her besides the fact I thought she was powerful. Let's hope I'm wrong and she ends up a bloodbath tribute.

The District Seven girl was definitely a contender, in my opinion. She seemed smart, and was going after all the essential stations. She learned how to swim fairly quickly, and I had also seen her learning how to use some sort of battle axe earlier.

The District Eight boy was a bloodbath, no question. Sure, he was nice, but he seemed to have no skills whatsoever.

Hawk was amazingly fast, and I never wanted to face off against him in a battle. I was certainly stronger than him, but I had a feeling he could slice my throat open before I could even draw my sword.

The new girl, Ace, was still a mystery to me. The Capitol picked her for a reason, yet she seemed like a ditz, and she allied herself with the weakest person in the game. Maybe it was all an act, or maybe she was just an idiot. Time would tell.

The District Ten girl had left an… interesting… impression on me. I had a conversation with her earlier for a minute or so, and she came off as a bit stupid. In fact, she seemed kind of frivolous. I wasn't _mean_ or anything, but I wrote her off as a bloodbath. Then I saw her work with rope, and I was shocked. She seemed to be able to tie knots faster than most people, and she seemed confident in her ability. Maybe it seemed like a stupid skill to most people, but she could definitely turn it into a game winning skill if she tried hard enough…

This may sound stupid, and a bit ageist, but I had already written off the two younglings as bloodbaths. Think about this logically. Even if Sage can protect them past the bloodbath, how could they win these games? They were no threat to me, and I wasn't going to waste my time observing them when their death was inevitable.

Sage was quite the spectacle. Everyone knew her name because her stylist did something so drastic that she had stolen a good chunk of the sponsors. Plus, she seemed fairly good with a bow, and she was fast to boot! Everyone had their eyes on her, and I had a feeling that it could end up badly for her…

Then there was Ruth and Devon. I knew most of their skills by now, but here are the two important ones. Ruth is a fighter, while Devon is a diplomat. Ruth prefers to use her fists, while Devon likes to use his words. They are both so different from each other, and that's what makes them perfect allies. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in my alliance, I would be quite frightened of them.

And last, but not least, there is my lovely District Partner Ayla. The quiet girl I had never noticed who has now gone a little bit off the deep end. Before she was so awkward, and now she seemed to be able to battle off a Career with her words alone. Most people would wonder what happened to her, but I already knew. Her survival instincts had kicked in. She was tired of being a rule follower, and if she was going down, she was bringing as many people down with her as possible. I just prayed I didn't get included in that little group…

Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end to a long day. My eyes met Ayla's and we nodded. No, she wasn't going to bring me down with her. We were allies, and we were going to make it to the end together. End of story.

**District Five:**

**Admyer's POV:**

The bell rang, meaning it was finally the end. I let out a deep sigh, and put down the blow gun I was trying to learn how to use. I wasn't very good at it… In fact, I sucked. I obviously wasn't going to learn how to fight any time soon, so I was just going to have to rely on my stealth, speed, and ability to lie. Hopefully that was enough to get me past the bloodbath…

I walked over to the elevators, and waited for the line to get shorter. I had spent the entire day alone, which was exactly how I liked it. I knew Winnifred would love to be in an alliance with me, but I could barely look after myself. I wasn't going to take on the responsibility of someone else's life. The guilt of their death would be too much to handle…

I finally found an elevator that wasn't filled to the brim, and slipped in. The only people in there were the girl from Three, and the boy from Eight. All of us were quiet people, which meant it was eerily quiet all the way up. However, once the girl from Three got off, the boy from Eight seemed to relax.

"That was nerve wracking," he murmured.

"Huh?" I mumbled before I could stop myself.

"Have you noticed how she seems to just emit an aura of animosity at times?"

"No, I guess I haven't," I shrugged.

"Oh…" he muttered.

After a couple more seconds, the door opened, and I stepped off onto my floor.

"My name is Lyric, by the way." He blurted out.

"Admyer…" I nodded.

The doors shut, and I continued on my merry way. I stepped into the dining room, and realized Memory was the only one in there.

'Where is everyone else?" I asked anxiously.

"Winnifred just left to take a shower, and Felix and Julius are out on a late dinner with a potential sponsor."

"Okay…"

I took the seat opposite of Memory's, and looked began to serve myself some food. Every now and then I would glance up at Memory. If Lyric thought the District Three girl was intimidating, I'm pretty sure he would drop dead if he met Memory.

Memory's red hair seemed to glint in a malicious way in the light, and a permanent scowl was spread across her face. She won the 222nd Games, and I remember them fairly well. Pretty much, she was a loner like me. She was extremely gutsy and courageous. She got into a fight with the District Seven boy, and killed him. However, she also was extremely injured.

The District Eight boy, Aidan, found her, and nursed her back to health. I don't remember why he did it, but the point is they fell in love fairly quickly. Maybe it was because they thought they were going to die soon anyways, so they wanted to die in love. Eventually, he did die, and she lost it. Memory killed everyone the three people who could have saved his life at the feast, and then the person who did kill him. Eventually, she returned back a normal mental state of mind, but not before having an emotional breakdown. Pretty much, she got stabbed by taking the hit for the girl who had helped her get out of her crazy state and almost bled to death. The only reason she won was because the girl she helped was poisoned, and the girl who attacked them bled out faster.

I remember Memory being a spit fire, but I never remember her being this cold. Maybe it was because she lost her tributes every year. Hopefully, I was going to break that curse.

"How was training today." She snapped.

"Good… I stuck by myself, and tried almost all the different stations…"

"Diversity is a good thing," Memory complimented.

"Yeah…" I murmured.

We continued to sit there awkwardly, eating our food as slowly as possible to avoid talking. Memory finished her meal first, and looked at the door, probably praying for Winnifred to waltz in.

When that didn't happen, she piped up again, "Are you sure you don't want any allies?"

"I'm sure…"

"Why? They could help you."

"You turned down the Careers, so I wouldn't be talking if I were you," I snapped uncharacteristically. My eyes widened in shock. I wasn't usually this grouchy… or, at least, I never showed it…

"Touché… But you still didn't answer my first question."

"I've spent my entire life taking care of other people. This time, it's all about me," I said truthfully. Until I had said it, I didn't realize how true that comment was. I was the kid who had taken up two jobs to support the rest of his family. I was the kid who didn't get the second job soon enough because a week or so before I started it, my little brother died. I was the kid who swore he would never let his sister starve to death. I was the kid who was going to fulfill that promise by coming home.

Memory thought for a few moments, and then smiled. "A very… intelligent decision."

I couldn't help but smile back. Memory seemed to admire two qualities more than anything else. Bravery and intelligence. Hopefully, she was beginning to realize I had both.

Right when I was about to ask her a question, Felix and Julius barged in. The smile that had been on my face moments ago vanished. Memory seemed to notice, and smiled even wider. She also found out I had quite the poker face. Before I could force it out of my mind, a sick thought came into my mind.

_Will you be able to keep your poker face up when a bloodthirsty Career is slowly torturing you to death?_

**District Four:**

**Oceana's POV:**

Dinner was a nightmare. The tension between Lily and Crescent was as high as ever, and Ethan just stared sheepishly at Leith and I. It was awkward, annoying, and frustrating. How was I ever going to be able to get advice from Ethan or Crescent when all of this was going on? I finally got to leave, and I practically ran to my room. Once I was safe inside, I couldn't help but just slump to the floor.

Today had been one of the most exhausting days of my life. I had to 'prove' myself to the Careers, and act like I enjoyed all of their company. I still wasn't sure which task was harder. Leith and Jordana both helped me with my fighting, and I realized I wasn't half bad. I mean, could I take any of them down? No, but I certainly could take down a few of the other tributes now if I had too.

I shuddered at the thought. I already was thinking of killing someone. Something must be wrong with me.

I quickly scampered into the shower, and just let the hot water roll down my body. Water had always been my safe haven. The thing that was always consistent. The thing that could calm me down. Who ever knew it would play such a huge factor in ruining my life.

I eventually forced myself away from the great comfort of the hot water, and I dried myself off. I changed into some simple silk pajamas, and dove into bed. The beds back home didn't even compare to the beds in the Capitol! Every time I lay down in one of these, I felt like I was in heaven!

I closed my eyes, and just focused on falling asleep. It seemed like every time I tried to make myself fall asleep, I ended up thinking deeply about everything and anything. However, I was pleasantly surprised when sleep took me into its warm embrace…

_My eyes shoot open, and I realize I'm surrounded by water. I let myself float through the tranquil environment, enjoying every second of it. I soon begin to run out of breath, and I try to kick towards the surface. I continue to kick and swim, but I don't get any closer to the surface._

_ The need to breath slowly becomes a burning sensation. I swim faster and faster, but nothing happens. I look down, and let out a scream that only comes out as bubbles. He's there. Holding onto my ankle, dragging me down to the bottom. His sweet grin turns into something malicious, and his little hand soon turns into giant claws. I try to let out another scream, but I lack the breath to do it._

_ The claws rake across my skin, and I see ribbons of red swirl through the water. The pain is overwhelming, but I know I deserve it. He knows I deserve it. Everyone knows I deserve it. My vision begins to fade, but not before the red swirls together, and instead of floating in water, I'm floating in blood…_

I wake up and let out a bloodcurdling scream. I gulp down a deep breath of precious air, and another scream forces its way out of my body. I feel myself hysterically crying, and suddenly the lights flash on. I feel someone's hand on my leg, and I begin to thrash about. The only thing I can feel are the claws raking across my chest, and I just continue to flail and screech.

I soon realize that I'm not in any _physical _pain, and I feel myself in someone's arms. I look up, see its Leith, and stop struggling. I can hear myself sobbing, and incoherent words escape my lips. Crescent, Ethan, and Lily all stand by worried.

My babbling continues, and my tears stream down Leith's chest.

"Go. I can handle this." I hear him order.

All of them depart slowly, and I can see Crescent is the last one to leave. She shuts off the lights, and shuts the door slightly. I continue to bawl, and howl. Leith rubs circles into my back, and says comforting words.

I comprehend the fact that I'm holding on to him so tight that I'm pretty sure he is in pain, but he doesn't seem to care. After what seems like hours, my sobbing ceases, and I just lay down in bed, exhausted.

I'm still curled up against Leith, and I slowly recognize the fact that he isn't wearing a shirt. I feel my cheeks warm slightly, and know I must be blushing. The silence is unbearable, and I know I'm going to have to be the first one to break it.

"I'm sorry I woke you…" I whispered.

"Don't be… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…"

"Liar."

The tears well up in my eyes, and I just hold onto him tighter.

"You had a nightmare about your brother… Didn't you?" he asks after a few minutes.

"I deserve it… I deserve all of it…"

"You know that's not true."

The silence continues, only interrupted by the occasional sobs from me.

"You never did get to tell me your side of the story," he whispers as he continues to rub light circles into my back.

"Is is really worth retelling?"

"I have a feeling it will make you feel better."

And I had the same feeling. I had never told another human being my side of the story. There was no point. My parents didn't want to hear it. My friends didn't want to hear it. No one wanted to hear it. They preferred their gossip over the truth any day.

"I had a younger brother named Aqua… He was the sweetest baby alive. He was always giggling, and smiling. I remember how much time my older brothers and I spent with him. At the time, we were the perfect family…"

I couldn't help but smile at the fond memories. Aqua's favorite game was Peek-A-Boo. It was 'our game'. If anyone else tried to play it with him, he wouldn't play along. It was our special thing.

"When he was two, I was going through a rough time. I had just started to go through… uh…. That time. You know… puberty. Well, all my guy friends saw me differently. I wasn't allowed to hang out with them anymore, because either their girlfriends got jealous, or they thought because I had breasts I wasn't the same person. I was so… frustrated. I felt alone in the world, and I found myself constantly thinking about it."

Tears sprung to my eyes, and I tried to blink away the tears.

"One day, I took Aqua to the park. You know, the small one by the giant weeping willow?"

"Yeah, I've been there several times…"

"It was one of his favorite spots. I took him there with a picnic basket, and we spent most of the afternoon playing. Eventually, I started to think about my problems again, and I stopped paying attention. It was late afternoon, and no one else was in the park. Most people were either fishing, or cooking dinner."

I felt myself beginning to sob again, and Leith started rubbing my back again. I took a few calming breaths, and continued, "When I finally snapped back to reality, Aqua was gone. I looked around, and saw his shoe floating in the water. I remember letting out a scream, and running over to the pond. I dove in, and swan towards the bottom. It was fairly deep, and I saw Aqua at the bottom. He didn't know how to swim, and was stuck in the bottom. He was still alive, and was flailing about. He got himself tangled up in the plants at the bottom of the pond, and I couldn't get him out. I tried as hard as I could, but he wouldn't budge. I remembered the knife in the picnic basket, but I knew it was too late. He inhaled too much water, and I saw the light leave his eyes."

One the last word, I broke down into sobs. I was shaking so hard, I thought I was going to hurt Leith, but he stayed firm and solid. He just held me tighter, and stroked my hair.

In between sobs, I could hear myself screeching, "If only I would have brought the knife! If only I would have been paying attention! If only I would have taught him to swim! If I could just go back, I would give my life for his! I would do anything to go back in time and… and… and…"

Leith forced my face away from his chest, and made me look directly into his green eyes. "Oceana, that was not your fault. There were so many different factors in that situation. Even if everyone blames you, it's not your fault. You loved him. He was your brother. You're not a murderer. You're just as much of a victim as he was."

I felt myself sob even harder, and Leith just cradled me to his chest. I cried for all the pain I had experienced the past few years. I cried for my little brother Aqua. I cried for my entire family. I cried for every time I put on a fake smile instead of showing everyone just how broken I was. I cried until I just couldn't cry anymore.

"Please… Don't leave…" I whispered once I stopped crying.

"I wouldn't even if you asked me too."

With that comment, I let myself melt into his embrace. I let myself feel some sort of comfort since my brother's death. I let myself believe the lie that it wasn't my fault. I let myself trust this man who believed that I was innocent.

Soon, he drifted off to sleep, and I could feel his chest rising up and down evenly beneath my head. His heartbeat was normal, and I just smiled. I wasn't in love with him, but I was extremely thankful for him. I didn't know what I would do without him, but we were just friends. And, hey, if I liked the way his strong arms wrapped around me, and how toned his chest was. Well, that's nobody's business but mine…

**And that's the dramatic end to Training Day one :D**

**I really hope you liked this chapter, because I certainly enjoyed writing it :D I hope I gave each character more depth, and I hope you love them even more so that when/if I kill them, it's like ripping a newborn child away from its mother XD**

**Too much?**

**Here is also a question I have for you to answer in your review. Now that you know (or do you?) the entire story behind Oceana, do you think it's her fault that her brother died? Also, is anyone else sensing an Oceana/Leith paring ;D Well, maybe not, but I might. I don't know, its fun to experiment with characters XD**

**Okay, enough with me talking. Review! Seriously! Go for it! I really don't mind :D**

**Update: Okay, so this chapter totally disappeared off of FF. I don't know why, but please review or PM me, (review hint hint) if you read this :D**


	23. Training Day Two

**Training Day Two:**

**District Thirteen:**

**Ayla's POV:**

You know how when something happens to you during the beginning of your day, you just know it's going to be extremely weird.

Today was one of those days.

When my eyes fluttered open, and I found the sun shining on my face, I felt pretty good. When I thought of the many different ways I was going to piss off the other tributes, I felt even better. When I walked into the bathroom, stripped down into nothing, and found my escort standing in the same room as me, things just hit rock bottom.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Yuthara screeched, "I came in to your room to wake you up ten minutes ago, but when I saw all the different soaps in your bathroom I just had to try them out. I mean, you have _bubblegum_ scented soaps! That must quite a big jump from the ratty ones back in Dis-"

I held up a finger, and she immediately stopped talking. "I'm going to go into the shower, and clean myself off. When I come out of the shower, you're not going to be here."

Yuthara's bright pink eyes widened, and she bobbed her head up and down. She sprinted out of the bathroom, and I just shook my head. People from the Capitol were so _weird_.

I stepped into the shower, and quickly turned it on. The showers here were really no different from the ones back home. The only big difference was that the ones here had hot water, more options for soaps and such, and they were a lot bigger.

I began put in what kind of soaps I wanted, and let the technology take care of the rest. When I reached up to wash my hair, all I felt was bare skin. I was still getting used to the whole 'being bald' thing.

The thing is, I'm tired of being pushed around. My entire life, I've just followed the rules, and let everyone walk all over me. Whenever I looked at Cami, all I saw were the jerks back home who would steal a little bit of my food away at lunch, or some of the girls who spent the morning hogging the bathrooms. That was the main reason why I felt such a rivalry with her. She embodied everything I hated about humanity.

Still, she wasn't the thing I had the biggest problem with. The Capitol is the thing I hated the most. How dare they take me away from my home! I never did a single thing to them! I knew girls back home who were far more rebellious than I was. Why didn't they choose one of them? Did they know I was going to crack under the pressure, or did they just want a quiet girl who could slip into the background and most likely die during the bloodbath?

Well, the joke is on them because there is no way I'm dying in the bloodbath. I'm also not going to crack under all this pressure. I'm going to stay perfectly sane, and I'm going to break every rule I can get away with. It's my time to shine.

I shut the water off, and stepped out of the shower. I quickly dried off, and ran towards the wardrobe in the bedroom. I slipped into a blue tank top, and black pants. I almost stopped to brush my hair, but caught myself, and just continued walking. I shuffled into the hallway, and made my way to the dining hall.

When I stepped in, everyone else was almost done eating. I must have lost track of time in the shower, and I had a feeling Yuthara was too scared of me to come and try to get me out. I grabbed one of the multi-colored fruits from the table, and began to munch on it.

My first impression of my mentors was completely wrong. I assumed they were going to be stubborn Careers from District Four who couldn't wait to see Alexei and me dead. Instead, they both seemed to care about us in different ways. Traya was actually a very sweet woman, and she said both of us reminded her of her children. Charles was… special. He was extremely sarcastic, and I wanted to kill him at first, but now I could find the caring words under his smart ass comments.

"What are you guys doing during training today?" Traya asked.

"Whatever the rest of the alliance wants to do," Alexei shrugged.

"What about you, pixie girl?" Charles smirked.

"Maybe some hand to hand combat training, crevice face," I quipped back.

Charles let out a harsh howl, and Alexei snickered. They seemed to enjoy our insults, whereas Yuthara was always appalled at the way we spoke to each other. Apparently, it wasn't 'respectful'. Well, I'm _this_ close to taking her manners, and respect, and shoving it up her prissy, ugly little a-

"Time to go, kids," Traya yelled, interrupting my lovely fantasy. I nodded curtly, chucked the pit of my fruit at Charles head, and pranced out of the room. I heard Charles let out a yelp of surprise, and I couldn't help but giggle as I made my way to the elevator.

I glanced behind me, and saw Alexei and Traya trailing behind me. Traya always insisted walking us to the elevator. Sometimes she really did seem to treat us like her children. I remembered hearing last night how she won her games. This sweet woman used to be a cold blooded killer. Well, that's not entirely true. She was still sweet, but she ended up betraying every single one of her allies. She didn't kill _all_ of them, but she certainly left them in some precarious situations.

Charles was actually one of the only Careers who seemed to win their games with his brains. He was an okay fighter, but the Careers saw him as expendable because of it. What they didn't notice was how the Careers slowly went down one by one. He would do simple things, like setting up a trap to fire an arrow when someone hit a trip wire, or slicing a allies throat open when out 'hunting' with them. I don't know why no one expected him, but it wasn't until the District One girl survived one of his attacks that they figured out it was him. He spent the rest of his time in the arena biding his time, and stealing food from tributes he killed. The final two was him and the girl from District One, and he ended up killing her. Apparently it was really close, and he still has some problems with his body ever since the girl sliced open his bowels.

Alexei and I stepped into the elevator, and we shot down to the Training Room. On the way, we picked up a few tributes, and once we reached the right floor everyone flooded out of the open doors. Since the trainer had explained the rules yesterday, you were allowed to train once you arrived. I already spotted Ruth and Devon at the camouflage station. Neither one of them seemed to be having that great of success, but at least they were having fun.

I nodded in their direction, and Alexei spotted them as well. We began to go towards them when, wouldn't you know it, Miss Bitchface showed up.

"How's it going, baldy?" Cami asked.

"I see you've acquired a new idiot henchman," I commented, nodding towards the District Seven man.

"I'm no one's 'henchman." The man snarled.

"Shush, Lucian." Cami hissed.

"Yeah, down boy. Be a good little pet." I snarled.

"What did you just say," Lucian yelled. I knew I was playing with fire. Heck, I was playing with fire while surrounded by kerosene! Still, I just couldn't help it. Messing with the mentally unstable was just so much fun!

"Don't listen to her. She has no brain," Cami tried to reassure him.

I let him settle down for a few seconds, before I scoffed, "Woof woof."

Lucian let out an enraged yell, and starting stalking towards me. "Might want to get a leash for your pet. Maybe even a muzzle," I cheered out.

"Lucian, stop. Remember, she's _my _kill." Cami shouted.

Lucian stopped dead in his tracks, and stormed back to the rest of the Career Pack.

"I don't think we have anything else to say to each other," Cami said coldly.

"I couldn't agree more," I replied in the same tone. We glared at each other, and a shiver went up and down my spine. I had a feeling; the next time we 'talked' was going to be in the arena. And only one of us was going to survive _that_ conversation.

**District Two:**

**Jordana's POV:**

"Don't you ever leave any of the other tributes alone?" I scoffed as Cami stormed back to our pack.

"Shut up." She hissed. Her face was bright red, and I could tell she was absolutely livid from her argument with the bald girl. If Cami had her way, that chick was going to die a slow, torturous death. Of course, everyone saw her at the throwing knives station yesterday. Maybe someone was going to give Cami a run for her money.

"What's the plan for today," Apollo blurted out before anyone could say anything to make Cami even more upset. I glanced over at him, and saw he was still casually leaning back against a nearby pillar. The whore from District Eight had her arm linked with his, and was resting her head on his shoulder.

I felt a small pang of _something_ shoot through my stomach. I absolutely _abhorred_ Asita. First off, she was a selfish little twat. Even though I couldn't hear it, she probably had sex with Apollo last night, and it had nothing to do with _love_. It had to do with securing a safe place in the Career alliance, and for her own personal pleasure. Second, she was so conceited. She obviously thought that the world revolved around her, and that no matter what she did it would end up in her favor.

Finally, the main reason that I hated her was that she was obviously using Apollo! He was just a puppet, and she was pulling the strings. It made me disgusted to see one of the only people I trusted here being used in such a way. Sadly, what was I supposed to do? Tell him that the girl he might be falling in love with is nothing but a manipulative witch?

"Does it look like I care what you do today? All I care about is that you can fight. If you don't have a weapon yet, _find one_. Besides that, go nuts and do whatever the hell you want."

With that final comment, Cami stormed away, with Lucian and Stark on her heels. I glanced over, and saw the District Four pair walking over to the knot tying station. Every time I looked at them, I could tell something was different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but they both seemed… lighter... around each other.

"Jordana?" I heard Apollo yell.

I spun around to see him and Asita walking towards me. "Will you mind teaching Asita a thing or two about axe throwing? She was pretty good with a dagger, but we just want to make sure there isn't any other weapon she is good with. I'd try and help her, but you know how bad I am at aiming anything with… you know."

I glanced at his eye patch, and nodded. A grin spread across his face, and I couldn't help but smile a little back. Something about that boy's smile was contagious, I swear.

"I'll be at the edible plants station if you need me." He yelled as he walked off.

Both Asita and I waved back, until he turned around. It was almost comical how both our hands dropped and we stared each other down. "I promise, it was Apollo's idea, not mine. Believe me; I don't want to spend any one on one time with you either."

I just rolled my eyes. "A simple thank you would have sufficed."

"I'll thank you once you teach me something useful."

We continued to glare at each other, until finally I rolled my eyes and stomped towards the throwing axe station. I picked up one of the heavier axes, and chucked it at the target. It hit spot on, and I turned to Asita. She was daintily picking through the axes trying to find the lightest one. I quickly grabbed one of the lighter ones, and thrust it towards her.

"We don't have all day," I snarled.

She looked uncertainly at the axe, before taking it from me. She noticeably dropped when I let go, and I couldn't help but snicker.

Asita's gaze turned cold before she hissed, "Something funny?"

"Oh no, nothing at all." I smirked.

Asita rolled her eyes, and tried to imitate how I chucked the axe at the target. Instead, it ended up ten feet away from her.

"You're grip is all wrong," I criticized.

"Sorry, I've never gripped an axe before," she muttered.

"Well, you've certainly gripped a lot of other shafts."

My eyes widened, completely shocked. I didn't mean to say it out loud. Asita froze, and slowly turned around. Her dark brown eyes were filled with malice, and a bit of pain. Did, perhaps, strike a nerve? I'd have to remember that later on…

"Listen here, _Jordana,_" Asita hissed. She said my name, as if it was some form of disease. She began to take slow steps towards me. For the first time, I didn't see a flirty whore, but an intense tribute. A tribute that looked as if they wanted to lob my head off right here and now.

"I may have gripped a lot of 'shafts' in my time, but I've actually had reasons. I had to provide for a family. I had people who depended on me. I _have_ people who I need to get home too. So, if I need to grip a few 'shafts' to get home to them, that's what I'm going to do. Do we understand each other!"

By now, she was right in my face. Well, as far as she could reach. Even on her tip toes, her face only went up to my chin.

"Everyone is trying to survive these games. Everyone has people they want to go home to. We just do it with some morals."

Asita let out a cold, harsh laugh. It was far different from her usual warm giggle. "Morals? Morals! We are in the _Hunger Games_. You want to talk about _morals_. You're a Career who is planning on slaughtering any tribute on sight to win these games. You really want to bring up morals!"

Asita's words dug in deep. She was right, in some aspect. I've never thought twice about killing someone. It wasn't something I craved like some Careers, but I have been planning on killing my way to victory. "You're saying you're not going to kill anyone in these games?"

"Oh no, I know I'm going to be killing someone. The thing is, I'm not planning on it. If it happens, it happens. If I have no choice, I'll do it. But I would never, ever plan on _hunting_ down a person like an _animal_ and slaughtering them."

With every word, I felt as if a steel dagger was being pushed deeper into my heart.

"Well, you won't have to worry about any of that. The second Apollo ditches you or me; I'll be the first one with a knife in your skull." I threatened.

"If that's the way you feel, I'll agree to the same terms. The second Apollo realizes how inept you are or, if for some reason, leaves me; I'll make sure you somehow end up dead."

"I guess we finally have an understanding, whore." I hissed.

"I am not a whore." She hissed back.

"I wonder what Apollo would say if I asked him what's happened between you two."

"Nothing," Asita smirked, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I haven't slept with him. Apollo wants a lady. Someone who he can court and woo. If he wanted just any girl, he would have picked you."

I felt my temper beginning to rise, but I just bit my tongue. "Just remember, this is the Hunger Games. It doesn't matter what you do, because eventually he _will_ ditch you."

Her eyes lit back up, but instead of going off on me again, she simply went back to trying to throw an axe. I gave her pointers here and there, but I let the instructor take over most of the work. After awhile, I realized how bad Asita was at throwing axes, and just let out a small chuckle. Beauty certainly isn't going to get her far in the Hunger Games.

"Jordana," I heard Asita say.

I whirled around, and I felt my arm smack something. A shriek filled the air, and I looked down at the ground. Asita was lying there, gripping her face. She was looking at me with fear in her eyes, and I felt my brow furrowed. What just happened?

"Asita!" I heard Apollo yell. He ran over to her, and knelt down beside her.

"I was just asking her for some help with fighting when… when…" Asita then proceeded to break down into sobs. With a cold horror, I realized what she had done. Earlier, when Apollo called out my name, I whirled around. That's just how I responded when people said my name. She obviously picked up on that, and decided to use that to her advantage. She called my name, and when I was whirling around, got in my way. She purposefully let out a scream, and fell to the floor. This was all just an act to make me look horrible in front of Apollo, and it succeeded. Even I couldn't deny how much it must have looked like I hit her.

"I didn't mean to! It was… I mean… Uh…"

"Stop talking, Jordana!" Apollo roared. My eyes popped open, and my mouth snapped close. I had never seen him so… angry. "How dare you do that to her! She is your ally!"

"I…I…" I stuttered.

Suddenly, I felt an iron grip on both my arms. "Violence against a fellow tribute is against our rules. You will have to be punished. Follow us."

I felt the Peacekeepers begin to drag me towards the elevators. I stole one last glance back at Asita, and saw her sobbing into Apollo's shoulder. For a split second, she looked up and smiled at me. Then she went back to weeping. That little _actress_. I continued to look at them the entire way to the elevator. That feeling shot through my stomach again, and I suddenly realized something. I wanted to be the girl that Apollo was holding. I wanted to let all my guard down, stop acting so strong, and let someone else protect me. I wanted to replace Asita. As the doors began to shut, only one thought ran through my mind.

_Was I beginning to fall in love with Apollo?_

**District Five:**

**Winnifred's POV:**

Everyone in the Training Room heard the scream. I'm also fairly sure every tribute stopped what they were doing, and just stared. It all happened so fast, that no one could really tell what happened. All I knew was that the girl from District Eight was on the floor, and a bruise was beginning to form on her face. Jordana had been 'escorted' out. It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone went back to what they were doing.

The Hunger Games seemed to get scarier and scarier every day.

Every day it seems to get harder and harder to get out of bed. Every day part of me dies inside. I knew for a fact I wasn't going to win. My entire life I had been _terrible_ at games. All the mind games at school, I always lost. Any sort of games with friends, I was the first one out. Even card games or those small board games I would always lose. Games were not my forte, so why would the Hunger Games be any different?

I mean, the Hunger Games were the most dangerous games alive. When you lost, you didn't just 'sit out' and watch the other kids play. You were dead. Gone forever. So, when you knew you were going to lose, and die, it was hard to make yourself put some actual effort into learning new things.

Still, I was managing. I had picked up on identifying plants extremely well, and I had always been a fast runner. I had also spent a good chunk of my time at the medical station, and had learned several good skills. The only thing I was still struggling with was archery. It was the only weapon I was 'okay' with, and even that was mediocre. However, in spite of not being naturally talented at fighting, I continued to spend a good chunk of my time at the archery station.

My plan, as of now, was to run away from the bloodbath and hide. So far, no one had shown any interest in being my ally. It made sense. I looked weak, frail, and kind of stupid at times. Actually, the boy from District Three, Thomas, sat with me at lunch once. In fact, I think he was fairly friendly, but then I started to go on and on about the different textiles in our clothing. Yeah, I think I freaked him out a little bit…

"Honey, you okay?"

My head snapped up, and I was staring right into the eyes of the edible plants trainer.

"I zoned out again, didn't I?" I asked nervously.

"Just a little bit," the trainer giggled.

I let out a sigh of frustration, and continued to sort plants into different piles. Most people could think and work at the same time. I obviously wasn't smart enough to be able to multitask in even the simplest of things…

I felt someone sit beside me, and I glanced over and froze. The girl from District Three, Valhalla, was beginning to sort through some of the plants at the station. I was a little bit frightened of Valhalla. I had also spent a good chunk of my time at the puzzle/maze station as a way to calm myself down. She was also there quite often, and she was extremely fast when it came to figuring out those puzzles. The mazes I was better at, but that still didn't scare me that she could finish a puzzle or riddle in the amount of time it took me to thoroughly read the instructions.

Okay, maybe that was a bit of an over exaggeration, but anyone who was that smart automatically scared me. Plus, when I did eat lunch with Thomas, I swear every time he looked at her he cringed.

"And, may I ask, are you staring at me?"

I let out a small gasp, and internally cursed. I had completely zoned out again, except this time I was staring right at Valhalla.

"No reason," I squeaked out.

I could feel Valhalla's gaze on me, and the tension building up in my body was almost unbearable.

"You're afraid of me," Valhalla stated, "You're the first tribute to be afraid of me before I even talked to them. Even poor little Thomas thought we could be friends before I put him in his place."

"Is that a good thing?" I asked quietly.

"It shows you're smart. Smarter than most people." Valhalla yawned.

I glanced over at her again, and saw her busily working on different plants. "So, what you're saying is that should be afraid of you?"

Valhalla's eyes met mine, and I felt a tingle go up and down my spine. It wasn't because she was glaring at me. It was because behind her ice blue eyes all I saw was emptiness.

"Well, first off, it doesn't matter what I say because you are already afraid of me. Second, every tribute should be afraid of me."

"Alright," I muttered.

I heard Valhalla let out a small chuckle before she continued, "See, I respect the fact that you can hold your tongue. You are a lot like Thomas. You're both weak, but intelligent. The only difference is that you aren't _naïve_. You know when to keep quiet and just let things be. I doubt you have what it takes to kill someone, but you do have what it takes to fight. I think that you're the first tribute that I won't purposefully hunt down later in the games. I'd rather not kill you."

I felt my mouth form a small 'o'. Valhalla just said she wasn't going to purposefully kill me, but that I was going to die by someone else's hand. The only thing I could utter out was "Thank you?"

"You're welcome. Oh, and a word for the wise. I keep seeing the District Seven girl looking over at you. If I were you, I'd go see what that was about."

With that last comment, Valhalla rose up, and headed towards the trap station. I looked down at her piles of food, and realized she was already done. The other thing I saw was that there were several poisonous plants in her edible plants pile and vice versa. Valhalla may be one of the smartest tributes here, but if she isn't careful her arrogance and narcissism very well might lead to her death.

I finished working on my different piles, and glanced back towards Jacqie. I caught her looking at me, and I realized Valhalla was right. There was a reason she kept gazing at me, and I was going to find out why. I made my way over towards her, and stood a few feet behind her. She was working with an axe, and trying to learn how to fight with it. She was actually fairly good. I peeked around, and saw Lucy was working over at the knife station. This was the perfect time to talk to Jacqie.

"Did you know axes used to be used in religious ceremonies," I blurted out.

Jacqie spun around, and gave me that look most people gave me. The look that said "What in Panem's name is wrong with you".

After a couple seconds, her look changed into an amused look, and she replied, "You don't say?"

"Oh yes," I continued, "Some of the first ceremonies were conducted by women priestesses who would use the axes to…"

I continued to blather on and on about the history of axes while Jacqie continued training. I kept telling myself to stop and shut up, but my mouth had a mind of its own and just kept going. Strangely enough, Jacqie seemed to be getting more and more amused instead of annoyed.

Once I was done with my extremely long monologue about axes, Jacqie replied, "You're a pretty interesting girl, uh…"

"Winnifred. My names Winnifred." I sputtered out.

"Well, Winnifred, I don't know a single girl back home who knew that much about axes, and a good chunk of them spend their time working with them. It's always nice to see someone who has a brain and uses it."

I smiled at her compliment, but froze when I heard, "Who's our guest?"

I turned around, and saw Lucy standing behind me. She had a smile on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. In fact, she looked like she wanted to eat me rather than get to know me…

"This is our new ally, Winnifred." Jacqie smiled back.

"What?" Lucy and I said in unison.

"I think three's the perfect number for an alliance," Jacqie encouraged.

"Well, that's just peachy. Pardon me; I need to go use the ladies room."

Lucy spun around, and trudged away from us and towards the restrooms.

"She'll come around. She's really a sweetheart; you just have to get to know her better."

"Uh huh…" I whispered. Part of me wanted to ask Jacqie if she _really_ wanted me in the alliance. Part of me wanted to tell her I didn't want to be anyone's charity case. Right when I was about to open my mouth, Valhalla's words resounded through my head.

_You know when to keep quiet and just let things be._

So, instead of ruining my only chance of being in an alliance, I just smiled. I let everything be how it was, and didn't worry. I may be terrible at games, but I doubted Jacqie and Lucy were. If they were on my team, I might make it past the bloodbath. Who knows, if I'm lucky, I could even make it to the Final Twelve! All I had to do was keep my mouth shut, use my brains, and not die. Shouldn't be _too_ hard… right?

**District One:**

**Stark's POV:**

The lunch bell rang, and everyone dropped what they were doing. The atmosphere was completely different from yesterday. Most of the tributes seemed to just _emanate_ fear yesterday, and now a good chunk of them seemed confident. Alliances were beginning to form, and it was a little scary feeling like the outsider. Usually, I prefer to be on the outside. I'm not much of a people person, but right now it felt like everyone was teaming up against me.

Within the Careers, people were beginning to 'bond', or form small alliances. Apollo was extremely close to Asita and Jordana, which made them a threat to be reckoned with. Jordana was a power house, and Apollo had a graceful finesse about him. Asita… well… she wasn't strong, but she was smart. If you put all those attributes into a small alliance, it could end badly. At first, I wasn't worried because I thought Jordana and Asita would rather die than fight together, but now I was beginning to become anxious. They both wanted to impress Apollo, which meant playing nice with each other. Well, at least in front of him.

Then there was Oceana and Leith. Ever since the Chariot Rides they had some sort of bond, but today it had been more prominent than ever. They were practically glued at the hip. It wasn't like they acted any different. They just seemed to be spending a lot more time with each other than the rest of the alliance.

And don't even get me started on Lucian and Cami. I had absolutely no clue what was going on there. It wasn't as noticeable as the other 'bonds' but it was there. They seemed to be constantly plotting with each other, and were both fairly protective of the other. The others probably saw it as Cami trying to cater to one of the flakiest members of the alliance, but I knew better. Yesterday, Cami had almost convinced me that I was her right hand man. Almost. However, by the end of the day I saw through her ploy. She was keeping her friends close, but her enemies closer. She didn't trust me so therefore she wanted to keep me as close as possible.

If I had to say who I spent the most time with in our little alliance, it would be Oceana and Leith. They were the only people in this group who weren't constantly bickering or insulting each other. They were certainly refreshing to be around.

I started to scoop some food onto my plate. I was still thinking about ditching the Careers during the bloodbath. It was a plausible option and a good one as well. If I was the expendable Career, then it was better to leave early on instead of waiting for the Career alliance to break down. However, if I left, then I had a target on my back, and I had no protection. Both choices had their good side and bad side, I just had to figure out which one was better for _me_.

I took my usual seat on the left side of Cami. Oceana sat down on my other side, and everyone else poured in. I noticed Jordana was back, which meant her punishment was over. I was extremely curious about what happened, but knew someone else would ask. It was almost comical how when Jordana sat down, Asita cringed into Apollo. I wasn't as stupid as everyone else. I saw Asita step towards Jordana and get hit on purpose. Again, she was a smart girl, and Apollo was falling for it.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Cami laughed.

"Shush," Jordana hissed.

"What did they do to you?" Leith asked.

"I just wasn't allowed to train for the first half of the day. Nothing too bad." She muttered.

"At least they didn't kill you," Lucian smirked.

"Like they would do that," Apollo said as he rolled his eye.

"The Capitol has been known to be unpredictable," Lucian countered.

"The real question is; are you disappointed or happy they didn't kill me?" Jordana growled.

"It would mean one less competitor," Lucian shrugged.

"I am curious, though," Cami smiled wolfishly, "What did little Miss Girly do to annoy you so much that you decided to smack her?"

I caught Jordana send a glare towards Asita. Asita continued to cower into Apollo, and he held her close. Another thing Apollo looks for in a woman. Someone who he can protect, and will actually let him protect her. She really is playing her cards perfectly.

"It got her to stop talking."

Everyone burst out laughing except Oceana, Apollo, and Asita. Even I couldn't help but let out a small guffaw.

"I was just asking for help," Asita mumbled to Apollo.

Apparently, Lucian heard it as well and interrupted, "And why couldn't your knight in shining armor help you out?"

Lucian knew exactly why, but I guess he just liked to see everyone else squirm.

Cami replied sarcastically, "It's because he is _far_ too good with ranged weapons to be able to teach such an amateur. Isn't that right, Apollo?"

Lucian snickered, "In fact, he's so good that we should call him… Dead-Eye Apollo!"

With that last comment, everyone burst out laughing. Apollo started blushing furiously. I observed he wasn't blushing from embarrassment, but pure anger. Obviously, his blind eye was something he didn't like to be made fun of.

I heard Asita giggling quietly, and I saw Apollo elbow her in the ribs. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but you have to admit that was pretty clever."

Apollo opened his mouth to say something, when Jordana roared, "Will you buffoons _shut up_! His eye is nothing to be ashamed of, so just shut up!"

The laughter immediately died away, but I saw Lucian and Cami still grinning. Apollo looked at Jordana with admiration, and I saw him mouth a thank you. I glanced at Asita, and saw a dark look on her face. She realized she just screwed up, and was mentally kicking herself over it. However, I realized she did some damage control she bumped her face into Apollo's moving shoulder. She let out a quiet 'ow' and Apollo turned around. He was obviously reminded of how she got the welt on her face, and he went back to flirting and fawning over Asita.

The Careers relapsed into different conversations, and I let my gaze wander across the rest of the lunch room. I saw alliances sitting around, and just chatting. There was no animosity, and everyone seemed… happy? The alliance I was mainly focusing on was the tributes from Districts Twelve and Thirteen. Even though they only knew each other for a few days, most of them seemed ready to take a bullet for the other. They seemed so close, and I realized I longed for that. I had a longing for the closeness I had never had back home. If I died, I wanted to die knowing there was someone out there besides my little brother who loved me unconditionally. And there was no way I was going to find it within the Careers…

**District Three:**

**Valhalla's POV:**

Lunch came to an end, and I began my walk towards the Training Room. So far, everything was going according to plan. The only two tributes who seemed to know my true nature were my District Partner and Winnifred. Everyone else seemed to just assume I was extremely shy, or extremely weak. Little did they know that they had a psychotic genius walking among them.

In fact, they had no way of knowing. Everyone else seemed far to obsessed with all the drama going on. The Career alliance was just a giant melting pot full of different emotions. Actually, sometimes it made me physically ill to listen to them. How could tributes so 'strong', be so weak? If I ever let my emotions rule my life, I'll just kill myself. Then there were all the other tributes. Most were fretting about finding some sort of alliance, and those that were already in an alliance were too ecstatic to notice what was going on around them.

I, however, was using my time efficiently. They had an array of stations that fit exactly to my needs. You see, I've read countless books on traps, chemical, and poison. In fact, I've read books on almost anything. Still, there is a complete difference between reading about to extract a chemical from a broken steam pipe, and actually doing it.

Most of my time has been spent putting my knowledge to use, and perfecting all my traps. Then I spend my spare time learning new things about chemicals, poison, and electricity. If things went my way, I would have the entire arena rigged with traps. Well, not the entire arena, but the part I decided to inhabit.

I have even spent some time learning new things about daggers. I tried a few other weapons, but I was horrid with them. The main reason I wanted to become mediocre with throwing knives is to set off traps. It would be so more efficient to set off a trip wire from fifteen feet away than being right next to it. It would increase my chances of surviving by at least ten percent, if not more. But, of course, I didn't need percentages. I was going to win these games. I was a goddess among Neanderthals.

Still, even goddesses had weaknesses. I'm extremely non-athletic, and run out of breathe fairly quickly at any stations involving physical activity. My skill in running is not desirable. Pretty much, this means if one of my traps doesn't work, I'm dead meat. The good news is that I'm a perfectionist, and every trap will work. Another thing to remember is goddesses just sit above everyone else, and choose who they want to die. Then, with a snap of their fingers, they're dead.

You may think I'm over-confident. Arrogant, even. Yet, if I know that I'm going to win these games, why not be arrogant? If I have certain skills, than I take pride in them. When other people don't have those skills, I mock them. That's just how I function.

After a few minutes, I decided to spend some time at the electricity station. I had already learned most of the skills that the amateur instructor could teach me, but it wouldn't kill me to practice some of the skills I remembered from books. When I sat down, I noticed one other person was at the station. The boy from District Twelve. I tried to remember what I knew about him. I so far had seen him stop his District Partner from starting a fight with the Careers three times, and he seemed calm. Yet, I could also tell he was extremely pessimistic, which meant he could easily be manipulated.

Perhaps I could have some fun with him.

"Devon, right?" I asked. I let a fake smile spread across my face. I had to stop myself from shuddering. Smiling when I had no reason to felt so _wrong_. It must have been somewhat believable, because he smiled back.

"Yeah, and you're the District Three girl…"

"Valhalla," I replied.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled, "I'd shake your hand, but I don't really want to shock you. You know, messing with all this electricity."

I made myself laugh, and stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Either that was his attempt at humor, or he was extremely stupid. So far, he had only been working with wire. The black casing around the wire he had been working at stopped it from sending electric waves through his body.

Idiot.

"Do you really understand how to do this?" I asked.

"Not really… I just didn't want to go to any of the stations my allies were going to."

"I'm not just talking about this. I'm talking about the Hunger Games in general."

Devon fiddled with the wire nervously. "Well, you survive. That's how you 'do' the Hunger Games."

"And how are you exactly going to survive?"

"We-ell," he stuttered, "I haven't thought that far ahead. Make it past the bloodbath for starters."

"So you not only let your anxiety and depression control you, but you're stupid as well."

Devon stopped what he was doing, and looked at me in shock. "Excuse me?"

"From what I can tell, you don't worry about the past at all. What's done is done, which is very admirable. Yet, that leaves you open to not learning from it, and to make matters worse, you worry about the future. Still, your pea-sized brain tells you that it's stupid to think about the future, so therefore you don't plan ahead either."

Devon's jaw literally dropped, and I let out a small giggle. "I'm assuming I hit the nail on the head?"

After a few seconds of silence, Devon replied, "How dare you say that to me! Wha-"

"What else is wrong with you? Great question," I smiled, "You're clingy, scrawny, and pathetic. You obviously can't lie, nor can you hide your rampant emotions. You pride yourself on being able to escape from the past and live in the moment, when all that really does is stop you from growing as a person. You act like a sullen ten year old, and I'd be ashamed of you if I were your parent."

Devon's face went from angry, to fallen. I could see tears beginning to pool in his eyes, but he was blinking them away rapidly. "Don't talk about my parents…"

And now I've found the chink in his armor. "Oh, you don't want me to talk about daddy or mommy? What, did they abandon you? Drunkards? Neanderthals? Perhaps, if I'm lucky, they're dead."

"I said, don't talk about them," he said a little louder.

"Wherever they are, I know what they're thinking. What a sad excuse of a child they had. I bet they're even regretting the day they gave birth to you. You think they're _proud_ of the fact you are a miserable, sad excuse for a man? Why don't you do them and all of us a favor, and kill yourself now. You're obviously not going to win, so why not prolong the evitable?"

With that last comment, I stood up and walked away. Pure and utter bliss spread throughout my body. Causing misery and heartache always brought me so much joy. Taking a person, diagnosing them, ripping them to shreds, and making them feel almost inhumane was one of the best feelings in the world. Just think of how it will be when I can not only do that to someone mentally, but also _physically_! Oh, how I look forward to that beautiful day…

**District Ten:**

**Charlotte's POV:**

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and I stopped running mid-step. I almost collapsed to the ground I was panting so hard. These past few days of training had been beneficial, but awful. I had been lassoing cows and such for years, so I already knew what my talent was. If I could lasso that rope around a tribute, I could maybe snap their neck or something. However, I didn't want anyone to know that was my talent, so I made sure to steer clear of anything involving rope.

That left little else for me to do, except get my body in shape. Even though I spent most of my life on a ranch, I still was the daughter of a rich man. I rode horses, not ran. I milked cows, not strangled people. So these past few training days I have been conditioning my body. I've spent most of my time running, swimming, and lifting weights. I also spent a good chunk of my time at the edible plants station, but I already knew a good portion of those from back in District Ten.

Anyways, everyday it seemed like my endurance, speed, and strength was getting a little bit better. It was a good strategy, and the other plus side was that no one really took any notice of me. I wasn't doing anything phenomenal, so therefore I wasn't worthy of their attention.

Still, I screwed up my chances of an alliance with a few people. The tribute from District Twelve and Thirteen see me as stupid and spoiled after a certain conversation I had with them. They were talking about clothes, so I just had to butt in! It wasn't until the end of the conversation I realized they were talking about how _stupid_ fashion was, not how great it was…

I run my fingers through my slick, brown hair. I can't help but groan at the disgusting feeling of sweat. Even back home I always hated sweat. It was one of the grossest things in Panem! Well, besides blood…

I finally looked up, and realized everyone was gone. I shakily got to my feet, and made my way to the elevator. I pressed my floor's number, and the elevator shot upwards. I really didn't' like my 'support' team. Davis was already in an alliance, and he was completely oblivious to my existence. I mean, there were times he was _nice_ to me, but I'm pretty sure if I died he wouldn't be heartbroken. Then Azula, our escort, was a complete bitch. She acted all peppy in public, but behind closed doors she was so mean! And, well, when someone is a bitch to me I'm a bitch back. Let's just say our feelings towards each other are completely mutual.

Miranda, my mentor, was sweet. She had good pointers, but I could tell she was purposefully trying not to get close to me. She had already lost most of her tributes, so I guess it was her only way of coping now. I understood, but it didn't make it hurt any less. Than Wolf, Davis' mentor, was extremely close to him. They were constantly talking, and I could tell that Davis must have reminded Wolf of himself when he was a tribute.

The elevator doors opened, and I walked out. I began the walk to my bedroom, and I unfortunately ran into Azula.

"Well, don't you look horrible," Azula hissed.

"At least there are days I look nice," I hissed back.

We walked past each other, but I heard her squeal, "Oh, Livvy, I absolutely adore that dress on you!"

Livvy was Davis' designer, and she was obviously trying to get a free dress or something.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be a suck up? Possibly with some guy at his apartment?" I yelled at her.

I heard her gasp, and I could feel her footsteps getting closer. I just let out a chuckle, and dove into my bedroom. I locked the door behind me, and a few seconds later I heard Azula knocking furiously.

"You _spoiled_ brat! I'm going to _kill_ you!"

I just continued to the bathroom, and turned on the shower. I quickly washed the sweat off of me, and walked out of the shower feeling refreshed. I slipped into comfortable clothes, and sighed. I really didn't feel like eating dinner with people who didn't care if I was there or not. I walked out of my room, and bee lined straight for the stairwell. I decided down was the best option, and hurtled towards the bottom.

I finally stopped when I realized I was at the Training Room's floor. I opened the door, and walked in. It was completely dark, and I felt around for a light switch. Then I realized that of course they didn't have a light switch. They didn't want tributes down here practicing. That would give them an 'unfair' advantage. Excuse me, but have they seen the Careers!

I was about to go back upstairs when I saw a light. I made my way towards it, tripping nearly over everything. I eventually found the door, and walked into the hallway. The light was coming from further down the hallway, and I made my way towards it. I opened the glass door, and felt the night breeze against my skin. It was nothing special. It was just a storage yard, but the thing that caught my eye was the giant neon sign. I couldn't read what it said because of how swirly and over the top the letters were, but it was filled with bright colors. It was right above the wall of the storage yard, and sitting beneath the sign and the wall was a tribute.

"Hello?" I asked.

I saw the person jump up and spin around. It was the man from District Six, Adam.

"Oh, hey," he said embarrassedly.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"I don't know… I found it after lunch yesterday when I got… uh slapped. I came back later that night, and this sign was lit up. Then I came tonight because I needed to get away."

"Well, I certainly know that feeling." I replied.

"Then come sit," he smiled.

"Fine, but if you pull any funny business you'll be getting more than a simple slap from me."

I made my way towards Adam, and he smiled, "I like the sound of that."

I rolled my eyes at his suggestive comment, and replied, "Oh really? You want my foot so far up your butt that you'll be able to see the imprint on your stomach?"

He shuddered a little bit at the thought, but then replied wittily, "I didn't know you were so kinky."

I couldn't help but laugh at that as I plopped down next to him. I saw his hand beginning to move, and I rolled my eyes. "Just because I laughed at a joke doesn't mean I want you to hit on me. You really need to learn more about girls, idiot."

His hand stopped moving, and he just smirked. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Oh yes you can! Have you seen how about half of the female tributes hate your guts?"

"Don't over exaggerate," he groaned.

"I wish I was," I muttered.

After that, we just sat under the bright lights. In fact, it _would_ have been romantic if it wasn't for the fact that Adam was such a big womanizer. Still, once you got past the fact he had a thing for any chick that came along, he seemed like a fairly intelligent and funny guy.

"I'm tired, so I think I'm going to head up." I yawned.

"Will you meet me back here tomorrow night?" Adam asked.

"Depends… How do you feel about a temporary alliance?" I replied.

"Temporary?" Adam asked.

"Simple. I want to get some things out of the Cornucopia, but I need someone to watch my back. I want you to defend me while I grab everything I can. Once we get away, we can either divide the supplies up and split up, or stick together." I explained.

"Not the typical offer, but I'm in." he smiled.

Even I couldn't help but notice how his smile was a little dazzling. No, I'm not talking about his smart ass smile, or his flirtatious smile. I'm talking about his smile that appears when he is genuinely happy.

"Then I will meet you here tomorrow night," I smirked back.

I trotted back into the building without another word, and made my way towards my floor. I tried to figure out why I just became allies with Adam. Perhaps it was because I'm a hopefully person. I've always had hope in Panem. I still have hope that I'm going to go back home to District Ten. Maybe I had hope that Adam really was a good guy. Let's just 'hope' that I didn't just put it in the wrong place…

**Ack! Sorry if there are grammatical errors, but I've been so busy that I literally just sat down for three hours and typed almost nine thousand words. So yeah, I really hope you guys like this new chapter, and there is only this part. The only reason Training Day One had two parts is so I could give every tribute at least one POV before the games started haha.**

**So please review! The bloodbath is coming up soon, and your reviews are vitally important! Not just the creators, but all of you! I take in all of your opinions of tributes, and everyone's opinions do affect who dies in the bloodbath. Not enough to change certain characters that I have serious plot lines for, but enough that if I'm teetering on a character I might change my mind. So, yes, please review and show me your still there! I write for you guys, and when I don't know if you're not there I get less inspired :P**


	24. Training Day Three

**Training Day Three:**

**District Eleven:**

**Scarlett's POV:**

The last day of training. I was just _so_ excited!

Did you believe that, because I certainly didn't.

I began brushing my fairly thick black hair, and inwardly groaned. It's not that I was looking forward to the Hunger Games, but before training started the thought was at least a little bearable. Then _Davis_ popped into the picture. He ruined my entire plan.

Pretty much, the plan was to use Sage as a shield until she died. It was quick, efficient, and a fairly good plan. However, I wasn't the one who had Sage wrapped around his finger anymore. Sage practically worshipped the ground little Davis walked on. She thought he was so sweet, and kind, and caring. Well, he _was_ all those things, but it still screwed up my plan.

Plus, it didn't help that he annoyed me to no end. In fact, he annoyed me so much that I found myself constantly snapping out of my 'innocent, cutesy act' and insulting him. And, of course, it was always in front of Sage. Not only did he make Sage love him, but he made me look terrible in comparison! I swear, if Sage ever left the two of us alone I was going to take a knife and slice his throat open. I'd then scream, Sage would come running, and I'd blame some other tribute.

Sadly, that plan wouldn't work either because Sage may be gullible, but she isn't stupid. She knows we don't like each other, and wouldn't leave us alone together unless it was life or death. I put my face in between my hands and groaned again. I was only thirteen, and my plan was completely going up in flames.

Maybe it would just be better to jump ship. Leave the alliance during the bloodbath, and try to make it on my own. I knew a little bit about hunting and plants from training, plus I was extremely intelligent, if I do say so myself.

Still, I was also very physically weak, and I wasn't the fastest person alive. If I was even spotted by any tribute with the urge to kill, I would be dead. I needed _someone_ to protect me. However, Sage was probably the only tribute who would put her own life in risk for mine. The only selfless tributes this year seemed to be Sage, and Davis, and I was already in an alliance with them.

I simply shook my head, and walked out of my bedroom. I strolled down the hallway and into the dining room. The only other person awake was my escort, Celia. I smiled, and plopped down next to her. She was another adult who I had right where I wanted them. Celia just thought I was the most adorable thing in the world. I _thought_ that I could do that with my mentors as well, but it didn't work. The male mentor, Pablo, didn't find anything cute worthwhile, and Ventre saw right through my act. I don't know how, but the second I started to try acting innocent, she told me to save it for someone who had nothing between their ears.

"You get to perform for the Gamemakers today," Celia smiled sweetly.

No _way_, I never would have guessed! Idiot…

"I know, I'm nervous," I whimpered.

"Well, don't even worry about your score. I already have one sponsor lined up for you no matter what. She just finds you completely charming!"

"That's a relief," I smirked. I wonder if the woman would find me 'charming' when I ended up gutting some poor tribute alive…

"Good morning Celia. Scarlett." Ventre hissed. She sat down, and began nibbling on some bread. Sage and Pablo walked in together laughing. Apparently Sage didn't have a care in the world. I _hated_ optimistic people.

"Do you have a plan for training today?" Sage asked. A silly smile was still plastered on her face.

I knew _exactly _how to get rid of that.

"I haven't thought about it yet…" I mumbled, "How is your nose feeling today?"

Sage's face blanched, and she murmured an 'okay'. She grabbed some food and began eating.

Her nose, or should I say beak, was a _sensitive_ subject. Not only did the Gamemaker's say that the doctors couldn't remove it, but they weren't even allowed to fix the mistakes the other doctor's did. Apparently, they rushed the procedure for the Chariot Rides, and they didn't get some of the nerves connected. The result of that mistake was that her beak was still in a fairly good amount of pain. I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if someone punched her there. Good thing she picked up a knack for archery, otherwise she would have to fight in close combat.

"Ready to go?" Celia asked.

Both Sage and I nodded. Celia escorted us to the elevator, and down we went. A few other tributes got onto our elevator, and I imagined this was taking us to the depths of hell. It seemed like the Training Room was hell sometimes. Between the weapons, and the fairly gloomy atmosphere, it was just missing the flames and the man with a pointy pitchfork.

The doors chimed open, and we flooded out. Almost everyone was in the Training Room, and everyone dispersed to the stations they wanted to try.

"Davis!" Sage sang.

Davis spun around, practically skipped towards us, and gave Sage a hug.

Have I mentioned that I _despise_ him yet?

"So, what do you guys want to do today?" Davis asked.

"Uhm, you two go ahead. I'll be with you in a minute," I stated. I began walking towards the edge of the room. I waited until Sage and Davis set off to wherever they were going, and I snuck into the shadows. Time to find the strong, and the weak.

The Careers were, clearly, the strongest. Well, except the girl from District Eight. She couldn't fight at all, which made her weak. Still, as long as she hid behind the Careers, she was a threat to be reckoned with. The only reason was because she was virtually untouchable unless you took out a few Careers, which for a thirteen year old, was impossible.

The tributes from District Twelve and Thirteen were threats as well. It wouldn't surprise me if they killed a few tributes in the bloodbath as well. The only other obvious threats were the girl from Seven and Adam Reid. They both were physically strong, and could easily kill someone of my stature.

And, finally, the weaklings. Both tributes from District Three were weak, and without alliances. Both tributes from Five were both frail and feeble, but fast. I could possibly keep up with them for a minute or so, which was all I needed to do in the bloodbath. The girl from Nine seemed pretty weak, and then there was Lyric. They were in an alliance together, which meant they both might rush into the bloodbath. Davis was also weak, but Sage would never let him go into the bloodbath. She had already told us what her plan was. She was going to sprint into the bloodbath, grab supplies, and sprint away. Davis and I were supposed to go hide, and we'd meet up after the bloodbath.

I had a different plan in mind. Sage could sprint into the bloodbath, but I was going to head into the bloodbath with all the weaklings. I was going to try and put myself right in the middle of the hoard of the weaklings so that I wasn't a target. What usually happens is a few of the front runners are killed because they either grab the best supplies, or the Careers get there at the same time as them. Then, there are the stragglers who get there late, and the Careers kill them because everyone else is gone. If I was in middle, I hopefully wouldn't be a target at all.

It was my best strategy since it seemed like I was going it alone now. I let out a small, harsh cackle as I walked out of the shadows. After I grabbed some supplies, I would book it out of there and hide. Sage waved at me as she saw me marching over, and Davis just kind of stared.

_But not before I wiped that little plan wrecker from the face of Panem!_

**District Twelve:**

**Devon's POV:**

"Devon, would you mind holding this for me?" Ruth asked.

I simply nodded, and grabbed the small sword she was holding. Right now, Ruth was trying to incorporate sword fighting with pressure points. She wasn't the best at sword fighting, but she swore that if she could hit any pressure points with her sword, that killing would be a piece of cake. I personally thought she was over exaggerating, but who knew? She could be right…

"Are you okay? You seem really out of it." Ruth grunted in between blows.

"I'm fine… Just tired…" I lied.

"You do realize you are the worst liar on this planet, right?"

I just shook my head, and looked aimlessly somewhere else. Yes, I was still a little depressed over what happened yesterday. Listening to the words that came out of Valhalla's mouth felt like injecting poison into my bloodstream.

She was right. I didn't really like to think about the past. It seemed to just bring and misery, but I had also forgotten it brought knowledge. In District Twelve, people drop dead like flies. You really don't think about it because it's just a part of everyday normal life. Well, until it's someone you know.

My mom got sick. Really sick when I was twelve. We didn't have enough money for medicine, so I went to the Hob. I tried to trade something for medicine. I tried and tried, but either the person didn't have medicine or they didn't want what I had. The fact that I was crying didn't faze them. Remember, a person dying was just normal in District Twelve.

I think you can guess what happened next.

After she died, I just dove into getting money. I traded object after object until I got enough money to support our family. Between my trading and my father's job, we scraped by. That didn't change the fact that someone was missing from our family.

My mom was the light in our family. She kept all of us smiling even when things weren't okay. My little brother tried to do that once she was gone, but it just didn't work. My dad and I were always in and out of the house, and soon we became more like roommates than a family.

The fact that I still haven't gotten over my mom's death, and that Valhalla pointed it out just pushed me to the breaking point. I was beginning to question what the point of trying was. When I compared myself to Ruth, Ayla, Alexei, or any of the Careers, I was so weak. They had a fighting chance, but I felt like I was the tribute just along for the ride. I was just hiding behind my strong allies, and what was going to happen when it, hypothetically, came down to us in the Final Four? _Maybe_ Ruth would stick with me, but then what if we were in the Final Two? She would kill me. She would kill me to live, just I like I would kill her to live. Sadly, I wouldn't have the physical strength to beat her.

So, really, what's the point of trying? It's just setting myself up for failure.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or will I have to beat it out of you?"

I glanced up at Ruth who had her hands behind her neck casually. She was giving me _that look_. The look that said she would beat the answer out of me as long as it benefited me later.

So I told her everything. I told her that I was just acting. I told her that I hadn't gotten over my mother's death. I told her about how unbearable my family life seemed right now. I told her all my feelings in one big rant. I even told her about what Valhalla said to me.

"_I'm going to kill her,_" Ruth seethed. She was sending Valhalla a look that made me utterly terrified. After thirty seconds of Ruth's death glare, Valhalla finally looked up and saw her. She had an almost pitiful look on her face. A look that made her appear like the usual District Three bloodbath. She quickly glanced around, saw no one else was looking at her, and smiled coyly at us. She waved at Ruth, and just raised an eyebrow.

It was as if Valhalla was saying "That's all you got,"?

Ruth caught on to that as well, and began to storm towards her. I quickly grabbed Ruth's wrist, and planted my feet firmly on the ground. Someone already punched another tribute yesterday. We certainly didn't need the word to get around that crazy Ruth went psycho on poor Valhalla.

"No. It won't end well for you, and she knows that."

Ruth slowly calmed down, until Valhalla rolled her eyes, wiped her face clean of all smugness, and went back to training.

Ruth's eyes seemed to catch on fire, and she just huffed out, "Her blood will paint the ground during the Bloodbath for what she said to you!"

Suddenly, I had a new admiration for Ruth. Sure, she was a little hypocritical, and was completely off her rocker. Yet, she was loyal to the death if you were her friend. You didn't find that quality in almost anyone in Panem.

"Just don't tell Ayla or Alexei about this. I know they won't react the way you did, but they certainly won't be happy. If everyone gets upset, then we're going to make mistakes. Mistakes lead to death." I reasoned.

Ruth looked as if she was about to argue, but she just sighed. "Fine. For once, I'll keep my mouth shut. Just don't ask me not to kill her."

"Now _that_ you can do," I laughed for the first since yesterday.

"Let's go over to the tracking station. Ayla and Alexei seem to be waiting for us."

I simply nodded in response, and finally released Ruth's wrist. We strolled towards our allies, but I couldn't help but take one last look at Valhalla. She was staring at me again with a smirk on her face. Her words just resounded through my head over and over again.

_ You're obviously not going to win, so why prolong the evitable?_

**District Six:**

**Adam's POV:**

"I'm not going to be able to remember any of this," I sighed. The trainer looked at me sympathetically, and patted my hand. Right now, I was at the muttation and animal station. All you did was sit here, and look at different cards that either had an animal or mutt on them. It showed their habitat, strengths, weaknesses, ect.

The only reason I was even trying this station was because I knew it would help me later if I tried to hunt, or if I got into a fight with a mutt. Still, my memory sucked, and by Day Three I was probably going to forget all of this.

The only other tributes here with me were the girl from Five, and the boy from Three. They both seemed to be picking up on this quickly, and were flying through cards. I felt so stupid sitting between these two brainy kids.

I slammed my cards on the table out of aggravation, and stomped away. I leaned against a wall, and ran my fingers through my short, dark blonde hair. It always seemed to calm me down when I about ready to blow up on something or someone. My eyes searched the room, and I spotted Charlotte. She was practicing her climbing, and she was quiet good at it.

This morning, Charlotte told me it would be better if we weren't seen with each other until the Bloodbath. If people saw us going station to station with each other today than they would expect us to be together during the Bloodbath. If we rushed in, and I was standing close by while she grabbed supplies, no one would even think we were working together until I actually had to defend her from some oncoming tribute.

Charlotte said she wasn't smart, but I personally didn't think she gave herself enough credit. Or, maybe she just seemed smart because I was just plain stupid when it came to things like this. I just wasn't good with people. I never thought of how my actions affected others, nor did I ever think of how my actions made me appear to others.

I realized I was staring at Charlotte a little _too_ long, and switched my gaze to somewhere else in the Training Room. I think part of the reason I can be allies with Charlotte and not hit on her every second is because she doesn't act like most girls. She's a tom boy, with a love of fashion. Quite contradictory, I know, but that's what made her human. I guess she just didn't seem like some sex object, but more like a buddy. A person. Plus, it didn't hurt that she wasn't the prettiest flower in the field, if you catch my drift.

"You taking a break too?" I heard someone ask.

I glanced to my side to see the guy from Nine, Hawk, leaning against a wall. Crap, I didn't even notice him standing there.

"Yeah…" I grunted.

After a few seconds of silence, Hawk replied, "How's the ear feeling?"

I winced, and put my forefinger up to the small hole at the bottom of my left ear. That stupid bitch from District Eight. I get it; I was coming on super strong. She should have just slapped me like Lucy, not bite my freaking ear off!

"Doesn't hurt anymore. Still, if Jordana doesn't kill Asita, I'll be the next in line."

"Someone's a little bitter," Hawk smirked.

"Someone's a little annoying," I responded.

"Point taken," Hawk laughed.

There were a few more minutes of silence before I stated, "I haven't noticed you a lot during training."

"Good," he replied simply.

"Well, I should get back to training," I mumbled.

"Wait," he blurted out.

I turned around, and looked at him impatiently.

He stared at the ground, and whispered, "I've picked up on the fact you come from a… good background. I'm just curious, but… what's it like to be wealthy?"

I was completely startled by his question. Why in Panem's name would you ask something like that? I was about to just walk away when I looked into his eyes. His green eyes usually looked like they had a spark of intelligence behind them, but right now they looked needy. As if, before he died, he just wanted to know the answer to the question he just asked.

"How can I describe it…?" I murmur, "You've seen what presents look like, right?"

"The boxes tied with brown paper?" Hawk asked.

"Kind of. Imagine a big box surrounded by golden paper. On the paper, intricate designs are splayed across it. Ribbons of red, silver, and bronze encircle the package. Everyone sees it, and just think about how gorgeous it is. They imagine and daydream about what's inside, but no one wants to unpeel the beauty to find out. However, if someone _did _rip off the paper and ribbons, all they'd find would be an empty, brown box. There was nothing inside. It was all a show filled with a void of emptiness."

I was surprised by how creative, and almost poetic, the words that came out of my mouth seemed. Still, it seemed to answer his question.

"Oh, I see. So either you have a cruddy box with something inside of it, or you have a gorgeous box with nothing in it?"

"For lack of better words, yes. Doesn't Panem suck?"

Right when I said that, the lunch bell rang. I gulped, and closed my eyes. Very soon, I would be performing for the Gamemakers.

"Well, I guess we should get goi-".

When I opened my eyes, Hawk was gone. He slipped away, just like he appeared. Dang, that guy is going to be hard to catch in the arena. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to be the one who catches him… It'd be a shame to kill someone who actually seemed fairly nice and humorous… Then, I realized something. About seventy-five percent of the people here were 'nice and humorous'. It's just that almost all of them tried to push it to the bottom of their soul. If they wanted to survive, they tried to become someone else. Someone who could win. A Victor. And that realization made even thinking of killing someone a lot more difficult.

Shit.

**Gamemaker's Performance:**

**Head Gamemaker:**

**Lavender's POV:**

"Now, there are two new rules I'm going to impose on all of you," I barked at my fellow Gamemakers. They all listened attentively.

"First rule, no drinking."

As I suspected, all of the male Gamemakers had a tizzy fit. Well, all of them except Marcel.

"You need to be sober to give the latter Districts a proper score. Don't worry, you can still eat. However, if I see or smell even a _hint_ of alcohol, someone is going to be fired. Get it?"

"Got it…" everyone chorused back.

"Second, I want everyone to take notes on what you observe. That way, I know you are paying attention. Oh, and don't try to pass off doodling as 'taking notes'. Once all the tributes are done, we will be reading all of our notes out loud. So don't try to sound _too_ stupid. "

Again, some of the Gamemaker's complained, but no one protested this time. They knew my word was law, and if they crossed it too much then they very well might end up dead.

"Are we ready to call in the tributes?" I asked with a mischievous smile on my face.

All of them nodded, and I pressed a button on my desk. "Send in the first tribute," I spoke into the speaker.

I brought out my notebook, and waited. The first tribute was Stark Delmont from District One. During the second day of training, I went and did a little spying on all of our tributes. Usually, all the Gamemakers observed the tributes during training on that day, but we didn't this year because we were working on building a false wall. Well, it was more like a one way mirror, if you will. That way, we could sit behind the false wall, and watch them train whenever we so desired.

Anywho, during training, Stark was almost weak compared to the other Careers. He didn't do anything ostentatious, nor did he seem to be trying to fly under the radar. He was just _there_. I was personally hoping to see some hidden skills, you never knew with Career Districts. Sometimes, you got, if you will, a 'dud' tribute.

I nodded, and he began his performance. First, he grabbed several dummies and brought them to the center of the room. He quickly scampered over to the weapons table, and slipped several different things into his pockets and sleeves. He was facing such a way that none of us could actually see what he was doing.

After five or so minutes of us waiting, he turned back around and walked towards the dummies. Once he was about twenty feet away, he stopped.

_That's_ when the show started. He abruptly and quickly pulled something out of his sleeve and flung it at a dummy. A knife went right into where the heart would be. He then began circling the dummies while sprinting. He continued to throw his knives, and I watched as each one hit a fairly vital part of the dummy. The combination of his speed, and accuracy was almost hypnotic to watch. He stopped circling the dummies, obviously out of hidden knives, and bowed. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw the obliterated dummies. I motioned for him to leave, and we began writing down what we thought he should score.

As usual, everyone had to have their say, but we eventually settled on a solid score. The next tribute to walk in was Camilla Starkweather. I motioned for her to begin, and she walked over to the weapons table. To sum up her fifteen minutes, she used every melee weapon effectively. She certainly wasn't phenomenal like her District Partner, but her diversity in weaponry was quite a feat for a sixteen year old Career.

The next tribute was Jordana Kite. She was definitely one of the tributes I watched with a keen eye when I was spying. She was absolutely the strongest Career, yet Camilla was still the leader. I guess it just seemed like it was the best fighter that was usually the leader of a large Career group. You know, the whole Alpha and Beta dog thing.

When I motioned for her to begin, she marched straight for the weapons table. She grabbed different axes, and walked thirty feet away from her intended targets on the wall. She took a large swing, and threw each axe. Every axe hit near the center of the target, and imbedded itself quiet deep. Jordana than motioned for an Avox to come out, and she grabbed a large, double-handed sword. She quickly showed her finesse and strength, and practically broke the Avox's wrist because of how hard she hit his sword when he was trying to block.

A few of the other Gamemakers erupted into applause, and I sent each of them a death glare. One of my rules was that we were not supposed to applaud for _anyone_. I didn't care if they resurrected someone from the dead. We were not going to let something as stupid as applause boost their egos.

Next up was Apollo Caius. I realized quickly Apollo wasn't the typical, almost robotic Career. He had some good techniques, along with almost a feline grace, but it was obvious he hadn't spent his entire life training. He sparred with Avoxes, and took on a group of three at one point. He realized once he was done fighting he still had a couple minutes, so he went over to the weights and lifted quite a large amount of pounds.

Poor Thomas Birch was the next tribute to enter the room. He looked so utterly _pathetic_. I felt as if a single glare would send him tumbling to the ground in fear. However, once I told him to start, his entire appearance changed. He stood up a little taller, and his eyes got a tad bit steelier. Thomas went right for the electricity station, and began to furiously mess with wires. He was connecting several different components in a flurry, and I felt my jaw drop. Did we have an _inventor_? If we did, the games certainly just got a lot more interesting…

He had about two minutes, and he rushed towards the weapons table and grabbed a spear. He quickly wrapped his contraption around the shaft of the spear, and made some adjustments with the spear head. With about twenty seconds to spare, he held up the spear triumphantly, and hit some sort of button. The top of the spear exploded with sparks, and I realized he just made an electric spear! He whipped it around a few times, showing off how well the sparks flew off the spear head, and grinned at us. I quickly dismissed him, and the Gamemakers broke out into many different arguments. Some wanted to give him tens, while others weren't impressed at all.

My only comment was, "Yes, he knows how to invent things. The real question is, can he use them in a fight?"

That shut almost everyone up, and we came to an almost unanimous score.

Small Valhalla Smitz scurried in, and I just grinned at her. I've been Head Gamemaker for a couple years now, and I was a regular Gamemaker for quite some time before that. You eventually begin to spot those that are more than meets the eye. This girl was one of them, and I knew she was holding back on us.

All she did was make several traps. Her traps were quite elaborate, but there was nothing else she wanted to show us. Part of me almost believed that was all there was to her, but then I saw her smirking on her way out. I couldn't wait to see her show her true colors in the arena…

Leith Tallen stormed in next. Every time I saw him, I almost got chills. Even though Jordana was the strongest Career, Leith seemed to be the most intimidating. Besides the fact he never seemed to smile, he just had this aura of 'I don't need anyone but myself'. It seemed like he wouldn't even think twice of slashing someone's throat open.

He reminded me of myself a little bit.

**Gamemaker:**

**Marcel's POV:**

My head kept bobbing up and down, constantly observing and writing down what I saw. Unlike the other Gamemakers, I was going to make my notes superb. I was hoping to even be more detailed than the Head Gamemaker herself!  
>It wasn't because I wanted to upstage her or anything, but I just wanted everything to be perfect! This was my first year as a Gamemaker, and I didn't want to screw a single thing up!<p>

I looked back up, and gasped. Leith had taken a piece of rope, tied it to the end of a spear, and was using it like a harpoon. He was skewering dummies, and I almost flinched when I thought of how that could have been a person. I really did enjoy the Hunger Games, but I absolutely hated the gore. It was disgusting to see tribute's burn alive, break bones, and just be in constant pain.

I looked back down at my notes.

_Leith Tallen: Great. Made a harpoon and skewered dummies. Showed almost no emotion, and was extremely athletic. _

Now, I know what you're thinking. You call that detailed? Don't worry, that's just the summary in case the other Gamemakers don't want to read a page for every tribute.

Soon, I got into a rhythm. Observe, take notes. Observe, take notes. By the time Lucian Valcoor walked in, I felt extremely proud of myself. I quickly scanned, and reread all of my summaries.

_Oceana Windsor: Mediocre for a Career. Used a trident clumsily, but made extremely sturdy ropes and knots. She could kill a several tributes with her trident, but against any Careers she would lose hands down._

_ District Five:_

_ Admyer Elverson: Extremely sneaky and fast. He sprinted short distances with amazing speed and agility. He also sparred with Avoxes. Except, he used no weapons, and just evaded their attacks. He even hid behind some equipment, and lost them for a few minutes. _

_Winnifred Fontane: Very smart girl. She tried archery at the beginning, but stopped immediately when Head Gamemaker Lavender began laughing. It wasn't that she was bad, but she certainly wasn't good. Winnifred then stood in front of us, and for thirteen minutes, recited different plants, animals, and muttations, going into detail on almost everyone she mentioned. I thought this was very valuable, but the other Gamemaker's probably won't see it that way. They only seemed to judge value on how well you could swing a sword._

_District Six:_

_Adam Reid: Physically strong. He sparred with Avoxes the entire time, using hand to hand combat and two axes. He wasn't the best with axes, but he certainly held off the Avoxes fairly well._

_Lucy Carter: She did nothing. All the Gamemakers and President Raven know she is a muttation. She sat there, and left after fifteen minutes. Raven ordered us to give her a six, so that's what we did. It's to make her appear 'average'._

I looked up, and Lavender told Lucian he could begin.

He responded to someone with, "Bring me someone disposable."

"That's a weird way to ask for an Avox," I muttered to Head Gamemaker Lavender.

After a minute, a small, mousy male Avox scampered out. Lucian grabbed a knife, and rope. He tackled the small Avox to the ground, and tied his hands and feet together.

The next action literally made me let out a yelp. Lucian brought his knife right down into the Avoxes stomach. Peacekeepers rushed towards Lucian, but Lavender stood up.

"No. Let him perform."

The Peacekeepers walked backwards, and I almost passed out from shock. Lucian was slowly torturing the poor Avox. While he was torturing him, he was also narrating it out loud to us Gamemakers. At first, it was more scientific. When you slash here it does more damage than here. Than it slowly just became psychotic. He started saying if you gash this open it makes him scream more. Eventually, I stood up, and found a trash can. I vomited up everything I had eaten that day. I just stood by the trash can, and waited until the guttural noises that sounded inhumane were done.

When I looked back, Lucian was gone, and the other Avoxes were cleaning up the blood. Two of them were carrying the corpse away, and one of them was… crying. When I went back to my seat, the other Gamemakers were practically cheering with delight.

I felt completely sick.

_District Seven:_

_Lucian Valcoor: A sick, twisted demon from hell._

_ Jacqie Holdaine: A fairly good fighter. She was comfortable enough with an axe to be able to use it as a weapon, but her technique wasn't the best. She also ran while carrying a fairly good amount of weight. She wasn't very fast, but she had very good stamina. Side Note: She seemed very determined. At least, more determined than a good handful of tributes I've seen today._

_ District Eight:_

_ Lyric Kane: Worst tribute so far. He tried fighting with a knife, but was extremely bad. This time, it wasn't just Lavender who started laughing, but over half of the Gamemakers. Lyric got flustered, and ran out without being dismissed._

I was about to write down Asita Chaya's name, when she strolled in. The reason I stopped writing was because something was off. Most tributes came in with either a steely look, or a look of terror. Asita had neither.

When Lavender told her to begin, Asita walked over, grabbed a knife, and walked back to the center of the room. My eyes popped and my mouth dropped when she took the knife, and slashed it through her shirt and skirt. As a side thought, I wondered who wore a skirt to training. I guess she wore it for this purpose.

When she cut off her clothes, she also sliced through her bra, so she was standing in front of some of the most powerful people in Panem with only panties on. I felt a blush covering my face, and I noticed a few of the other Gamemakers were shocked as well. Two of them were looking at her with lust, but only Lavender showed genuine interest in what was going to happen.

"Listen," Asita began, "I can't fight. All I know are some self defense moves I've learned over the years because of… circumstances back home involving men who just can't learn what 'no' or 'enough' means. I'm not a fast runner. I'm not very physically strong, and the only things I know about survival in the wilderness are the things that I've learned here."

She motioned to her body, "This is all I got. All I have is this, and probably a handful of perverted sponsors. But, what I need from all of you is a decent score. Right now, I'm in the Career alliance. I've used _this_ to get one of them to practically fall in love with me. I know, it's below the belt, but it's what I have to do to survive. So please, all I want is a five or six. If I get anything below that, Cami will kick me out and I'll die in the bloodbath. I promise, if you give me that score I'll do my best to manipulate and give you the 'show' that you all want."

I noticed how when she said show, she said it in complete disgust. The other thing was she seemed genuinely sincere, but she also just said she was going to try her best to manipulate. How did we not know that's what she was doing right now?

Once she realized we weren't going to respond, she picked up her ruined clothes and exited the room.

"That took guts," Lavender commented, "It also took a lot of charisma. I'm still not sure if I want to give her what she wants because of that, or give her the lowest score possible to piss her off."

_Asita Chaya: Has many weaknesses, but has a Career wrapped around her finger, according to her. She's definitely a wild card, but I'd be willing to take a chance. Still, the other Gamemakers might think a little differently…_

_ District Nine:_

_ Hawk Nightwind: Seems like a very skilled tribute. He showed us some camouflage techniques, and made himself blend into the wall of the room. He also used some throwing knives fairly well, and ran extremely fast. He is unquestionably a stealthy person, and did a great performance._

_ Ace Fortune: Lavender told all of us about her skill in the Masked Men arts. So, to even things out, Lavender took away all Masked Men weapons, or anything resembling them before we started. When Ace walked in, she looked shocked when she looked at the weapons table. Still, she pulled it together and grabbed a regular throwing knife. She was okay with it, but everyone could tell it wasn't her weapon of choice. She left the room looking rather irritated. _

_ District Ten: _

_Davis Grayvelle: Did the same thing Ace did. His weapon was obviously not at the weapon's table, and he had no idea what to do. He simply showed us his skill with plant identification for fifteen minutes. He was quite upset and looked like he was on the verge of tears._

Charlotte was definitely a surprise. Even I expected her to be completely boring and get a terrible score. However, when she started, she motioned for an Avox to stand. She quickly grabbed rope, tied a noose, and started swinging it quickly over her head. She looped it around the Avox's neck, and yanked. The rope tightened, and the Avox fell the ground. She began strangling him with the rope, and released the tension once he passed out.

She also roped several items in the room, and even roped a weapon out of an Avox's hand. Again, several Gamemaker's applauded once she was gone, and Lavender just rolled her eyes.

_Charlotte Fern: Has serious experience with rope. She can use it as a weapon, and maybe even for climbing and survival purposes. _

_ District Eleven:_

_ Scarlett Macrose: A fairly sneaky little bugger. He climbed up the rock wall very fast, and managed to beat the stealth station fairly fast. Still, the other Gamemakers didn't look impressed…_

_Sage Hathaway: Fired arrow after arrow into targets. It wasn't accurate every shot, but most of them hit near the center of the target. _

_ District Twelve:_

_ Devon Wright: Used a knife. Was fairly fast when using it, but something seemed off with him. He wasn't on top of his game, and it showed. When he left, I noticed one of my fellow Gamemakers had fallen asleep. Idiots…_

_ Ruth Angelo: Was extremely good. She fought off several Avoxes with swords, and showed us some of the most lethal pressure points in the entire body. She seemed to leave quite an impression on the other Gamemakers._

_ District Thirteen:_

_Alexei Drake: Used a sword the entire time. Everyone had heard about District Twelve and Thirteen's alliance and it seems that they are trying to show off their fighting skills. He was definitely the best fighter in his alliance so far._

_ Ayla Siege: Officially pissed off every Gamemaker here, except me. She refused to perform, yelled at us for making them perform 'like monkeys', and left without us dismissing her. _

I looked up from my notes, and saw that Lavender was still fuming. Shit, this was going to be terrible.

"Who wants to go first?" Lavender hissed.

All of us gulped, and stayed extremely silent. One wrong word, and someone was going to be executed…

**District Four:**

**Leith's POV:**

"Leith, are you almost done?" I heard Oceana yell. I shut off the water in the shower.

"Yeah, be out in a minute," I commented.

"Well, you have five minutes until they show the Training Scores," she snapped back.

Was I in the shower that long? I quickly shuffled out of the shower, and dried myself off. I wrapped the towel around my waist, and opened the door. As I expected, Oceana was on my bed casually flipping through one of the magazines that they put in the drawers of everyone's dressers.

Also, as I expected, she looked up and turned bright red. "Leith! Put some clothes on!"

"My room, my rules," I joked.

She simply shook her head with a smile on her face, and went back to reading. I quickly grabbed some clothes from the dresser, ran back into the bathroom, and changed.

Once I was fully clothed, and catapulted myself onto my bed. She let out a squeal of surprise and delight as she almost was bounced off. I propped my head up, and glanced inside the magazine.

"What's so interesting?" I asked.

"Oh just Capitol fashion. I read it more for the entertainment than in actual seriousness."

I nodded in response, and slipped off the bed. Before she could get off, I grabbed her ankles and yanked her off the bed. She let out another yelp, and almost went tumbling to the floor. Since she was wearing actual pants, I lifted her upside down so that her head was on the floor and I was holding her feet up in the air.

"Let go!" she yelled.

"Eh hem," I coughed.

"Please!"

I simply let go and she went tumbling to the floor. I let out a short laugh, and she broke out into small giggles. I smiled at her and helped her up. I didn't know if I _loved_ her or anything, but I certainly liked her. She was the first person in a long time who managed to get me to genuinely smile. She has sort of become the sun inside this gloomy atmosphere called the Hunger Games.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

She playfully hit my shoulder, "Yes, you big lug."

She linked her arm within mine, and we began our walk to the television room. We got there in the nick of time because Cami's and Stark's faces shimmered into view.

"Hurry up and sit down!" Crescent barked.

We sat down next to each other, and I gripped Oceana's hand.

A ten appeared underneath Stark's face, and I almost fell out of the chair right there and then. Stark was _never_ good enough in training to pull off a ten. A nine _maybe_, but not a ten.

"Looks like he was hiding something after all," Oceana commented.

A golden nine shimmered underneath Cami's picture, and I just nodded. That seemed appropriate. Cami was far more of a strategist than a fighter. A nine made perfect sense.

The next two faces to appear were Apollo's and Jordana's. It was almost comical how in Apollo's picture he was all smiles, and Jordana looked as if she wanted to strangle every single viewer. Apollo got a nine, which made sense again. All of had figured out he wasn't the typical Career who had planned his entire life around the Hunger Games.

Jordana was the second shocker of the night. Her training score was an eleven, and the entire room was silent. It appeared to be that Jordana was the most dangerous tribute in the Gamemaker's eyes. Unless someone else pulled off an eleven, I had a feeling Jordana was going to be flooded with sponsors.

The two twerps from District Three were next, and I had to look at the names below their pictures to remember exactly who they were. After Thomas' score appeared, I just planned on keeping my jaw open for the rest of the night. Weak, frail Thomas got a seven! A seven! That was _huge_ for someone from his District. Valhalla also got a six, which showed she might not be a bloodbath like I expected. If anyone got a four or below, the Careers just assumed they were bloodbaths, and I completely expected for Thomas and Valhalla to fall below that range.

When Oceana and I emerged on the screen, it felt like the entire world stopped. This was pivotal in the Hunger Games. This pretty much picked the pecking order for the Careers.

"Yeah buddy!" I cheered out when a ten came into view below my name. Everyone cheered, and Ethan even patted me on the back. The only part that almost made my blood turn to ice was when I realized that the Gamemaker's thought Stark and I were equal threats.

Then something happened that actually _did_ turn my blood to ice.

Oceana got a seven.

I sat next to her and patted her hand. "Don't worry, Asita will get a worse score than you. You won't have the lowest score in the Careers," I comforted.

Oceana nodded her head slowly, and stared out the window. Even she knew that this was bad. Careers were expected to get an eight or above. If you joined the Career alliance and you were from a Non-Career District, than you were expected to get a six or above. Oceana didn't meet the bar, which meant most of the Careers might look down on her now. It just made our job of keeping her alive that much more difficult.

Admyer, from District Five, got a five, while his partner Winnifred got a four. Both were what I expected. They were both weaklings, and would probably die in the bloodbath. Still, I was curious what Admyer did to score a five…

Both Adam and Lucy got sixes. I expected that as well, because I had already seen both of them fight. They weren't the best fighters on earth, but they certainly weren't the worst. I still thought both of them were Career material, but Cami didn't like either of them.

When Lucian's score popped up, I just laughed. Of course the psychotic kid would score an eleven! This was just great. Now we had the two most dangerous tributes in these Games in our alliance. Things were looking just peachy!

"I bet he's just jumping off the walls right now," Oceana hissed.

"He's such a Neanderthal," I growled.

His District Partner got a five. Lucian had something against her, and the scores showed he was probably going to kill her. Jacqie had, literally, no chance now.

Lyric and Asita were next, and Oceana held her breathe. Lyric got a three, and I just smiled. Predictable. I just wanted him dead as soon as possible to make sure he wasn't faking it. A five flashed under Asita's name, and I let out a sigh of relief. Asita was one below her expected score, just like Oceana was. The alliance wasn't going to have a split… Everything was okay…

Hawk Nightwind got a seven, and I just laughed. All of these District kids were getting such high scores! It was almost unbearable… Of course, last year almost every tribute got above a five. Maybe I should be thankful instead of freaking out…

Ace scored a four, and I just smiled. Yeah, no need to freak out…

The twelve year old from District Ten got a two, and I couldn't help but smile. He beat my expectations. I swore he was going to get a one… Then Charlotte's score appeared, and I knew Cami was going to be pissed off. Charlotte scored an eight! You see, Cami was only expecting Lucian and the tributes from District Twelve and Thirteen to score an eight or above. She thought everyone else was going to get a seven or below. Now that Charlotte broke her expectations, Cami was going to be livid. I personally was just curious what she did to warrant that eight…

Scarlett scored a three, and Bird Girl got a seven. She was certainly skilled with a bow and a quiver full of arrows…

Devon got a five, which surprised me since I thought he was also going to get an eight or above, and Ruth scored a nine.

Alexei got a ten, and I almost shivered. It was just weird to think that Alexei was my equal in the Gamemaker's eyes. Killing him was, apparently, going to be a challenge… And then Ayla's score appeared, and my eyes bugged out. She got a _two!_ How was that possible! I saw her use throwing knives! She deserved at least a nine or ten! What the hell just happened!

"Looks like we got our work cut out for us," Oceana whispered.

"Yeah, you could say that again…" I moaned.

**District Eight:**

**Asita's POV:**

"Dinner is in ten minutes," Agatha croaked as she stumbled into my room.

Right now, I was sitting at my vanity just finished up putting on some lipstick. Back home, no one had lipstick. If you wanted your lips to look redder, you smashed red berries onto your lips and hoped they weren't poisonous. I mean, I had makeup back home, but all of it was homemade and was unquestionably not as good of quality of any of this.

"I'm not going to be eating dinner you tonight," I replied as I moved on to my eye shadow.

"And why, may I ask, is that?" Agatha asked as she plopped down onto a chair.

"Because I have a date with Apollo," I stated.

There was silence for a second, and Agatha burst out laughing. "You have a _date_! There are no _dates_ in the Hunger Games!"

"Good thing we aren't in the Hunger Games yet." I quipped.

"So you're going to go eat dinner alone with him? Oh my goodness, that boy is so strange…"

"No, he's not weird. He's chivalrous and sweet." I smiled.

There was another second of or two of dead silence before I saw Agatha hobbling towards me angrily.

"I saw that smile! Don't do this to me!" Agatha screeched.

"And what are you referring to again?" I sighed.

"Just a few days ago you were saying how gullible and naïve he is! You were not like _this_. A few days ago you never would have _defended_ him! Don't screw this up by falling in love with him!"

I felt shock spread across my face, but it was quickly replaced by anger. I didn't respond well when someone told me what to do.

"What would be so bad about falling in love with him! Rouge fell in love with someone and won!" I growled.

"That is completely different and you know it! When she fell in love with him, she left him in the dust. Plus, the… circumstances were…"

"Just say it," I argued, "Rouge could fight, and I can't. She didn't need Link, and I do need Apollo. Why don't we just clear the air! I'm a weak, pathetic girl who has no chance of winning these games without someone protecting me!"

"Don't you dare put words into my mouth, impudent whelp!" Agatha shrieked back.

"Then don't you dare put thoughts into my mind!" I screamed back as I slipped into red heels and stomped out of my room.

"Come back here, we aren't done yet!"

"Oh yes we are, unless you think you can catch up to me with your cane!"

I slammed the door behind me and stormed towards the elevator. How could she say I was falling in love with Apollo! Of course I wasn't! I was a fricking professional at _not_ falling in love with guys. Why would Apollo be any different?

Okay, I liked him. I thought he was a cool person. He wasn't what I expected when I stared flirting with him. In fact, he was one of the only Careers I thought was actually noble. He volunteered because money situations back home were extremely tight. Then Oceana and Stark were reaped. Those three were the only Careers who I respected for being here because their options were limited. Cami volunteered for the fame, and the other three Careers volunteered for the blood.

I smashed my fist into the down button, and waited impatiently for the elevator to appear.

Plus, Apollo was kind to me. Besides Mr. Moneybags, all of the others guys I had ever had a relationship with were complete assholes. They banged me, and then told me to get out. Apollo hadn't even banged me yet, and he was one of the kindest men I had ever met. Well, at least he was one of the only men who seemed to treat women right…

I took a step into the elevator, and then felt a hand gripping my arm. "Are you going to be back tonight?"

It was Clinton, and he had that unmistaken able look of lust in his eyes. "Sorry, I'm going to be out all night," I lied, "working on trying to survive in the arena, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I understand," he smiled.

I let the elevator doors close, and hit the number of the floor he was on. The elevator shot downwards, and dinged open. I took a step out of the elevator, and glanced at myself in the mirror over the end table. I was wearing a red dress, but it was fairly conservative, for me at least. It went down to my knees, and showed minimal cleavage. I smiled to myself again when I realized Apollo was going to love it.

I quickened my pace, and made my way to his room. I passed by the dining room, and glanced inside the room. Thankfully, no one saw me, but I saw Jordana glaring at something outside the window. Oh lord, if she would have seen me there might not have been any 'date' tonight any ways…

I made it to the room that I thought was his based on his directions, and knocked three times.

"Give me a second!" he shouted.

"All right," I laughed, "just keep it down!"

After a minute or so, he opened the door just a crack. "Close your eyes."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Just do it instead of biting back with a witty, but at times annoying, comment."

I rolled my eyes, and closed them. I heard the door open a little bit more, and felt his hands over my eyes.

"This is ridiculous." I complained.

"Just stop talking for once!" he laughed.

I shut my mouth, and heard the door shut and the lock click into place. I gulped, and felt myself start tensing up. I didn't like _surprises_. In fact, I detested them. I liked to know what was coming so I could prepare.

"Open," He smiled.

I opened my eyes, and just stared in awe. There was a small table set up with a red cloth over it. There were three candles on the table, and most of the other lights were off. I turned around, and saw him rubbing his neck nervously.

"I know it's cheesy, but I thought it would be nice. Sparkler helped me out. She's apparently into stuff like this, and says that she wished tributes did stuff like this more often," he babbled.

"It's… amazing," I muttered, "I certainly don't deserve it."

"Of course you do," he laughed.

I didn't care if it was cheesy. Do you know how many times I've imagined something like this when I was hired back home? Not even something this nice. Just dinner. Just a five minute conversation even. For him this was cheesy. For me it was magic.

He led me to the table, and pulled out the chair. I couldn't help but laugh, and sat down. He raced to the other end of the table, and sat down.

"If someone pops out as a waiter, I swear I'm going to burst out laughing."

"Sorry, none of that. I think that'd be a waste of time since I can get up, press some buttons, and the food will be here in a minute. Plus, I don't want anyone else in here but you…"

And, for the first time in a long time, I blushed.

He ordered food, and we spent the evening talking. I mean, we had already talked about the important things like family and home, but now it was just random things. Things like favorite color, did you like reading. You know, normal things. Still, one thing was gnawing at the back of my mind. He still didn't know. I still hadn't told him, or anyone except that wasn't from my District, that I was a prostitute.

I remember someone telling me once that if it wasn't brought up, than you should leave it unsaid. Yet, I felt horrible that he didn't know.

That's when I excused myself to use the restroom. I shut the door behind me, and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I shouldn't feel terrible that he doesn't know. This was all an act! This was all one, big game! I had to… I had to stop thinking like this!

But I couldn't. Ever since I let myself get slapped by Jordana, I slowly began slipping up. I stared answering questions how _I_ would answer them. Not like how some character I made up would answer them. And the thing is, I wanted to do that. I wanted him to know me, because… because…

"You alright in there?" Apollo asked.

A wiped the tears that were beginning to appear in my eyes away. I opened the door, and stepped out.

Even in the low light, he could see that my eye were a little redder than usual.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing… I'm just so happy," I lied.

Apollo believed me, and broke out into a huge grin. I felt his hand on my neck, and I tensed. Oh no. Oh Panem no. He was going to _kiss_ me. Yes, we hadn't kissed either. He was too much of a gentleman to kiss before the first da… Oh Panem.

I was terrified. I had kissed plenty of guys, but it didn't mean anything to them. This meant something to him. It wasn't until his lips were on mine that I realized it didn't just mean something to him.

It meant something to _me_.

As I was kissing him, I finally realized why I liked him so much. He was one of the only men I had known that treated me like a girl instead of a whore.

If only he knew…

I felt the tears slipping through my eyes again, and so did he. He stopped the kiss, and looked at me with concern. All of this: the kindness, the date, the kiss; everything just sent me over the edge.

I broke down into short sobs, and his jaw dropped. He led me over to the bed, and sat down next to me. He rubbed my arm while I just shoved my face into his shirt. I wasn't questioning if I couldn't do this to him anymore. I had to do this to him, whether I liked him or not, because I had to get home. What I was questioning was how I felt about him.

I had to tell him. Even if it screwed everything up, I had to tell him.

"Before I came here…" I sobbed.

"What?" he asked.

"I was a prostitute." I sobbed harder.

I couldn't even think about uttering out that I actually kind of liked it. I just couldn't admit that to him.

"Oh my…" he swore.

I felt his body tense up, and I knew he was angry. I knew he was going to throw me out. I knew he was going to yell and scream at me.

"I want to kill all of those bastards!" he growled.

I looked up, and saw he was definitely angry, but not at me. He was angry at every single man I had ever slept with.

"Apollo… I"

"Don't say anything. I just… need a minute…" he barked.

He got up, and began to pace. I scooted further back on the bed, and brought my knees up to my chin. After a few minutes, he looked at me, and his eyes softened.

"You thought I was going to leave you, didn't you?"

I simply nodded, and he sat next to me. He laid down on the bed, and pulled me down with him. I pressed myself against him, not because I was trying to seduce him, but because I just needed physical comfort. I needed to feel him. I just… needed him…

"Sorry I ruined your shirt," I whispered.

"It's not mine to ruin…" he muttered.

I closed my eyes, and I felt him start running his hands through my hair. After what seemed like forever, I was on the edge of sleep.

"I love you…" I heard him whisper.

I felt my body tense up. He… no…. I can't do that to him. Yes, it was my plan, but…

I opened one eye, and looked up at him. Do I lo… lo… Do I feel that way about him?

His eyes were shut tight, and I sighed. He was asleep, which meant I didn't have to deal with this right now. I snuggled up closer to him, and just reveled in his warmth.

I cared about him… I cared about him a lot. But I couldn't feel the way he feels about me. I couldn't love him. I had a family I had to get home to. I had three siblings who needed me, and I couldn't let one man stand in my way. I didn't love him… I didn't love him… I didn't love him… Then, right before I drifted off into sleep, a gut wrenching thought popped into my head.

_How would you know? It's not like you've ever been in love before…_

** One more chapter, and it's time for the really sick, twisted part of the games :D **

** I know this is extremely lengthy, but I just had to put everyone of these POVS in. Also, I'm sorry if you feel cheated because of the Gamemaker's performances. I just couldn't find it in me to right out in detail what every tribute did. I was so bored by District Three that I just had to do the list. Then I described the more shocking acts in detail. Again, I'm sorry but I was saving both of us time :P**

** So, please review! Lots of characterization this chapter, plus twists ;D Come on, you can't tell me you didn't see what happened in Asita's POV coming. Well, maybe you didn't, but it's going to be fun to play with :D So pleeeease review! I missed some of your review last chapter! Also, posting training scores below this in case you ever forget and want to look back.**

_**District One:**_

**Camilla Starkweather: 9**

**Stark Delmont: 10**

_**District Two:**_

**Jordana Kite: 11**

**Apollo Caius: 9**

_**District Three:**_

**Valhalla Smitz: 6**

**Thomas Birch: 7**

_**District Four:**_

**Oceana Windsor: 7**

**Leith Tallen: 10**

_**District Five:**_

**Winnifred Fontane: 4**

**Admyer Elverson: 5**

_**District Six:**_

**Lucy Carter: 6**

**Adam Reid: 6**

_**District Seven:**_

**Jacqie Holdaine: 5**

**Lucian Valcoor: 11**

_**District Eight:**_

**Asita Chaya: 5**

**Lyric Kane: 3**

_**District Nine:**_

**Ace Fortune: 4**

**Hawk Nightwind: 7**

_**District Ten:**_

**Charlotte Fern: 8**

**Davis Grayvelle: 2**

_**District Eleven:**_

**Sage Hathaway: 7**

**Scarlett Macrose: 3**

_**District Twelve:**_

**Ruth Angelo: 9**

**Devon Wright: 5**

_**District Thirteen:**_

**Ayla Siege: 2**

**Alexei Drake: 10**


	25. Interviews

**Interviews:**

**District Two:**

**Jordana's POV:**

If they pluck _one_ more hair…

Here is the recap of my life ever since the Gamemaker's performance. My brother and mentor, Castiel, has been yelling at me nonstop. We practically were at each other's throats when we were trying to figure out my angle for the interview. Then, there was Sparkler. I wanted to rip out her vocal cords, and beat her to death with them! We spent seventy-five percent of my day yesterday going over 'etiquette' because Apollo apparently 'didn't need as much work'.

Between working on posture, walking in high heels, and going over lady-like things to say, I was about ready to just take my own life. Oh, and _now_ I'm being tortured by these imbeciles that are my 'prep team'. The only thing they are 'prepping' me for is the amount of anger I'm going to be taking out on my first kill in the arena!

My stylist, Percival, was just sitting in the corner, observing me. Percival was a bit of an idiot. He seemed to think that by not saying anything, he wouldn't say anything stupid. Well, that part was true, but being completely silent with a dopey look on your face still conveyed to the world that you _were stupid!_

However, he didn't become one of the District Two stylists without having some creativity. His idea about being marble statues was impeccable. From what I could tell, Percival came up with all the creative ideas, and then Apollo's stylist, Anska, made them happen. It was actually a fairly ingenious combination. The District One stylist, Avarice, did pretty much everything while his counterpart, Hulda, just stood around and looked pretty.

"I just don't understand why your hair grew back so _fast!_ Do you realize how annoying that is!" one of my prep team members screeched.

"Do you realize that I can't control that and all of you are unbearable," I hissed.

I heard all of them make a small scoffing noise.

I'm not going to _hurt_ them… I'm not going to _kill_ them…

"She looks fine, ladies. I'll finish up the rest," Percival commanded.

My prep team shuffled out of the room, complaining the entire way. Once the door was shut firmly, he walked over to me and began to mess with my shoulder length black hair.

"Your hair looks far better without those nasty looking 'cornrows'," Percival commented.

_I wish I could say the same about your face. _

"Thank you," I muttered.

"Anksa should be here any minute with your outfit. I think you'll like it," he smirked.

Without any further conversing, he grabbed out a makeup kit, and began to lightly apply some foundation. I simply closed my eyes, and let him do whatever the heck he wanted. According to Castiel, 'Just do what your stylist tells you! He's trying to do the impossible and turn your ugly ass face into something worth remembering!'

After that comment, I bashed his head in with a vase.

After awhile, he began messing with my hair again, and finally he decided how he wanted my hair. I heard the door open quietly, and the ruffle of a dress bag reached my ears.

"Thanks, dear," Percival whispered. He walked over to me and murmured, "Stand up."

I did as he said, and I felt him slip something onto me. I opened my eyes, and just stared. He put my hair up into a small, extremely tight bun, and, probably for the first time in history, I wasn't in a dress for the interviews. I was in an extremely tight white blouse with black slacks. I was also wearing a black suit jacket, and he slipped me into black pumps.

"I thought this would show your muscles off better, but also give the audience a sophisticated and professional view of you." Percival explained.

"Well, I certainly like it better than those skimpy dresses you usually put the District Two girls in." I quipped.

He blushed a deep shade of red, and went back to applying more makeup. What I said was completely true. For the past four years, all of the District Two girls were 'beauties'. Veronica, from the 222nd Hunger Games, wore an extremely tight and short leather dress for her interviews. Vivian, form the 223rd Hunger Games, was in a longer, but even tighter, red dress made of rose petals. Oh, and don't even get me started on Cynthia from the games the year after Vivian. Her dress was so short I swear I could see her bare butt. Isis, from last year, had one of the more decent dresses, but anything was decent when you compared it to Rouge's see-through, skin tight, leotard.

"Well, someone definitely knows how to work some magic," Castiel bellowed as he strolled in.

"You're now supposed to be in here!" Percival yelled.

"I'm her mentor and sibling. Get out before I kick your sorry ass. She is obviously done, and has time for a little chat before the interviews start." Castiel smirked.

Percival's mouth opened and shut a few times before he sprinted out of the room.

"What do you want, Castiel," I groaned.

"Now, now. That's not the way to talk to someone who has something very important to tell you."

"Fine… Oh Castiel, I'm delighted you came to visit me!" I said with fake enthusiasm.

"That's much better!" Castiel said smugly as he plopped down onto one of the couches.

"Anything else before you get on with it," I snapped.

"You could tell me I'm the sexiest man on earth," he smirked.

"I could, but I won't," I growled.

Castiel just laughed. Wow, someone was in an unusually _good_ mood. "Hm, I had to give it a try, right?"

"Okay, what's the deal? Why are you so laid back all of the sudden!"

"Well, I've just found out a bit of information that could change the game for us. Want to hear it?" Castiel asked excitedly.

I finally let myself make eye contact with him, and I felt shivers run up and down my spine. The only times I ever saw his eyes light up like that were on television during his games. His eyes would always get the glow they had right now when he was about to go in for the kill.

"Yes…" I said warily.

"Good. Time to tell you this small piece of data that might end up saving your life later in the game…"

**Europa's POV:**

"Two minutes until show time, Miss Europa," the stage director said. I just waved him off. I had been doing the interviews for six years now. I knew what I was doing. The boy finished entwining gold into my brown hair. I had it in a high bun right now. This year's color was, obviously, gold. I saw the golden eyes staring back at me and smiled. Ever since Caesar died, all the interviewers changed something to a different color every year. My mentor, Dixie, changed her skin color every year before she retired. I decided on a more subtle approach with my clothes and my eyes. I stood up and was pleased with the sparkling golden fabric. I was beautiful, as always.

I walked out onto the stage and heard the crowd's roar of approval. I sat down in my chair and looked at the tributes. Twenty-four people to interview.

"Hello Panem! This is the 226th Hunger Games' interview portion! I hope all of you are as excited as I am. Let's start with the District One female tribute, Camilla Starkweather!"

Camilla stood up with a sneer across her face and marched towards me. Her mid length, dark brown hair was left fairly natural, and her makeup was done so that her grey eyes looked darker than usual. She was wearing a tight, leather dress and black boots I would _kill_ for. She also had on a necklace of gems that changed color, which reminded all of us of her Chariot outfit.

When she sat down, her angle was obvious. However, when I was talking to her, I wasn't exactly sure if it _was_ an angle, but perhaps just her personality. She came off as extremely ruthless and destructive. She insulted pretty much every tribute, and had an obscene amount of self-confidence. When her buzzer rang, the Capitol clapped so loudly I had the urge to cover my ears. Everyone loves a good old demented Career…

The next tribute was Stark Delmont. His short, black hair was also left natural, and his blue eyes stood out against his rather gloomy outfit. He was also dressed in all black, but his tie was encrusted with gems that changed color. Now _that_ was clever. Interestingly enough, the boy who got a ten from his performance almost _shuffled_ his way to the chair next to me. At first, he just came off as pathetic. However, with a few well placed questions from me, he started to appear more mysterious and sly rather than miserable and stupid. Still, it was hard to get any kind of long answer out of him. When he got up to leave, the Capitol seemed a little put off, but also intrigued. He was going to get sponsors on his score alone, but his interview could have gone _a great deal _better.

When Jordana Kite came down, it was as if the world went silent. She was the girl who got an eleven in training, and she was the girl who everyone seemed to have some amount of fear and respect for. Her black hair was in a tight bun, and her brown eyes looked almost black. Her outfit was actually a _suit_ with black pumps. That certainly has not been done before… Her angle was determined and feisty. She had no problem answering questions about her strength and bragging about herself. Not that bragging was a _bad_ thing. She was trying to sell herself to potential sponsors, after all. Once her three minutes were done, she was met with a chorus of applause. The Careers were always everyone's favorite interviews.

Next up was Apollo Caius. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back, and his one eye was a brilliant blue. He was walking at a fairly slow pace, and the entire time he had this little smirk playing on his lips. His outfit was extremely similar to Stark's, but there was a key difference. Stark's gemstone tie gave him a little more glitz and glamour, whereas Apollo's eye patch, along with his slicked back hair, made him look more dangerous and refined. Apollo had no problem answering any of my questions, and every answer he had seemed to flow extremely well. He never got tongue tied, and was extremely delightful to talk to. Still, his angle was cool and collected, but dangerous. Even when he was talking about something like fighting or killing a tribute, he did it with debonair. When his interview was over, the entire crowd seemed extremely impressed and a little bit in awe.

Then little Valhalla Smitz from District Three came down. The cute robot from the Chariot Rides was gone. Valhalla's raven black hair up in a loose bun, and her knee length dress matched her ice blue eyes. Even though she was sixteen, she usually looked a little bit younger, but right now she seemed even _older_. Valhalla's angle was mysterious, but was also extremely cold. She would answer most, if not all, of my questions without any noticeable emotion and inflection. When her time was over, most of the audience was silent. It wasn't because she was terrible, but she was surprising. No one really expected _that_ from her.

Her district partner, Thomas Birch, was next in line. His brown hair was left alone, and his bright blue eyes glimmered with anxiety. He looked like a deer in the headlights. He was wearing a white dress shirt, and black slacks, but his suit jacket was made from copper wire. So far, the stylists' outfits had been very impressing this year. Thomas tried to pull off the mysterious angle, but he just came off as a nervous wreck to me. I tried to soothe and calm him down, but nothing seemed to work. When he left, I knew that he left no impression on the audience. I even bet that a good chunk of sponsors were now going to say his seven was just a fluke.

Oceana Windsor was the next tribute to come down, and I couldn't help but smile. Her light brown hair was in corkscrews that coiled around her face and head. She had on shimmering blue eye shadow that, of course, brought out the blue in her eyes. Her dress was a vibrant blue that glimmered as she moved, and hugged her body quite nicely. Even though she wasn't the prettiest tribute this year, she was the prettiest, actual _Career_, and they were playing that up. However, her angle was more likeable than sexy. She was joking most of the interview, and was trying to make herself appear like an old friend to the Capitol and myself. The funny thing is I think it actually worked. When the time came for her to leave, the audience seemed fairly disappointed.

Leith Tallen wasn't in a tuxedo or suit, but was simply wearing black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a blue vest. His dark copper hair was tousled, and green-gray eyes were alight. Even though I personally thought his angle she be sexy or flirtatious, he was cold and stoic the entire interview. He answered each question minimally, and was just as emotionless as Valhalla. Part of me wanted to see Valhalla and him in either a conversation or stare down contest. Anyways, when he left, it seemed like most of the audience liked him. The men thought he was strong from his score of ten, and the women thought he was one of those broken, beautiful boys that _maybe_ they could fix once he won.

Winnifred Fontane was next on my list. Her dirty blonde hair fell to her shoulders in wave, and her green eyes looked a bit glazed over. Her dress was… interesting. It went down to her calf, and had a golden hue to it. However, it was paired with a bright purple necklace, that I assumed was her token, and her shoes were green. Her stylist was _obviously_ having some issues today. Winnifred didn't have an angle. She simply answered my questions in her own… special way. I'd ask her about her home life, and somehow it would lead her to start talking about the value of electricity and running water. Her interview was eventually over, and I couldn't have been more relieved. The entire thing was just… awkward for the audience and me!

Admyer Elverson looked like the walking dead. His skin was pale, and his light brown hair was dull. His hazel eyes had a soft shimmer to them, and they appeared to be… tears? His outfit was far too big for him, and he looked, overall, unhealthy. It wasn't until he was sitting closer to me that I saw it. I, being the Interviewer for the Hunger Games, have _years_ of experience with makeup. The other tributes and the cameras wouldn't pick up on it, but dear Admyer was wearing makeup to emphasize a sickly appearance. His angle was to act weak and desperate. He played his role extremely well, and I didn't even have to do very much to help him get his angle across. When the buzzer sounded, the audience either had disgust for him, or pity. I glanced over at where all the mentors were sitting. My eyes connected with Memory's, and I smiled at her. Of _course_ she would have thought up that plan. That girl was brave, I'd give her that.

Lucy Carter practically skipped down the steps to her seat next to me. Her chin-length brown hair was straightened out, and her dark green eyes showed joy. She was wearing a purple dress that went down in ruffles to her knees, and she had a gigantic smile plastered onto her face. Her angle was likeable and sweet. She came as those things, with a little bit of innocence mixed in. Sadly, this angle didn't really get the Capitol's attention. Her applause was fairly weak when she left, and I sighed. There was only so much I could do…

Adam Reid strutted towards me, and I almost groaned. Oh great, one of _these _kinds of angles. I knew his angle was going to be confident and cocky. I could tell from his entire appearance. His dark blonde hair was styled upwards with product, and I could tell his stylist made Adam's eyelashes longer with some sort of clear mascara. Adam was wearing a taut and tight tuxedo that showed off his… _assets_ very well. The entire interview involved him being arrogant. Half way through, I thought I was going to punch him. When he eventually started to hit on me, I pinched his hand so hard that I knew there was going to be a bruise there later. The buzzer rang, and I just thanked Panem that was over. However, he definitely got the woman's attention because they couldn't stop staring at his butt, which even I had to admit was delectable and _perky_.

Jacqie Holdaine came down the stage in a light green dress. It wasn't stunning like some of the other outfits, but it certainly was pretty. Her brown locks were curled to perfection and her light blue eyes seemed to shine in the spotlights. Jacqie _definitely_ played the crowd. She started off being extremely friendly and kind, but ended up captivating the crowd with some tragic story. Whether it was true or not, I had no clue, but pretty much it explained why she had an ugly scar across her face and got a couple Capitol women bawling their eyes out.

Lucian Valcoor was quite the character. He was wearing a green tuxedo that matched Jacqie's dress, but it was obvious he didn't want to be associated with her. His short, spiky brown hair was left natural, and his brown eyes had a glint in them. When he sat down and started talking, it was obvious he didn't have an angle. The entire three minutes, I was petrified. He explained to the Capitol how to shrink a head, and also talked about what blood felt like. However, when his buzzer rang, he was showered with applause, and a few flowers were even thrown his way. Personally, I thought he was a creep, but whatever the Capitol wanted. Well, if his angle was evil and macabre he certainly did a killer job…

Asita Chaya sashayed down the stage, and I couldn't help but smile. Her stylists definitely knew how to showcase her. Her floor dress was made from the same curtain-like fabric, but this time it wasn't see-through. Her dress was stunningly white, which contrasted greatly with her dark skin color. Her brown, almost black, hair was done up in an intricate bun, while her brown eyes were highlighted with white makeup. You could never tell that this elegant woman was the slutty girl from the Chariot Rides. When she sat down, it was obvious what her angle was. She was still a little flirty and sultry, but definitely not sexy or slutty. She was trying to make herself seem like a real person instead of just a sex object. By the end of her interview, she had the crowd wrapped around her fingers just like Jacqie had. When she walked off the stage, she was the beautiful girl who was tragically torn from her family and desperately needed to get back.

I still couldn't believe the Capitol ate this stuff up.

Lyric Kane. The weakest tribute in these games was up next, and I was dreading it. When I saw that his light blonde hair was slicked back, his blue eyes were dull, and his white tuxedo was a little sloppy, I almost had an anxiety attack. I expected him to be overly meek and stupid, but he surprised everyone. The boy who got a three in training was very eloquent. In fact, he seemed to have the crowd mesmerized more than Jacqie and Asita. I think the thing that was most unique about him was that he answered every single question in detail and honestly. In fact, he was just plain blunt about his answers! The Capitol wasn't used to such blatant honesty, and seemed to adore him for it. He walked off the stage with plenty of applause, and even I couldn't help but feel happy for the kid. Maybe he wasn't such a lost cause after all. Still, sponsors did squat for you in the bloodbath…

Ace Fortune was the tribute the Capitol was most curious about. And, oh boy, did they get to know her! First off, her black hair was still tied in its usual pig tails, and her grey eyes were barely accented by any makeup. She was wearing a floor length grey dress with circles on the side. I thought she would try to be timid and innocent, but I was quite wrong. She was, if anything, whiny and annoying. She went on rant after rant just on simple questions. So far, she had talked more than all the other tributes combined. However, her rants got the crowd roaring with laughter, which also made her a fairly well liked tribute.

Hawk Nightwind skulked down the stage. He was clad in a blue pantsuit that looked quite fitting on him. His messy dark brown hair was styled with hairspray or gel, and his forest green eyes showed he was thinking the entire time. His angle was intelligent, witty, and quick thinking. His humor was light and sharp, and we bantered nearly the entire time. However, at the end, he pulled out the sympathy card and talked about how hard things were back home and how much he missed his family. He left the stage with moderate applause. He wouldn't be forgotten, but chances are this interview didn't help him all that much when it came to sponsors. He just wasn't good at playing a martyr or victim when it was obvious he was more of a hero or provider.

Charlotte Fern didn't stand out much in her appearance. She was dressed in a simply yellow sun dress with yellow heels. Her brown hair was straightened, which didn't look all that great on her, while her makeup seemed to hide her light brown eyes. Nonetheless, her personality made up for it. The first thirty seconds or so, she was trying to be mysterious. She quickly cracked and started to come off as humorous, and sarcastic. She also seemed a little full of herself, but the Capitol expected that. She did get an eight after all.

Davis Grayvelle was simply adorable. He was wearing a cute little white tuxedo, and his dirty blonde hair was just so _poufy_! His grey eyes were alight with laughter. His angle was innocent, sweet, and sympathetic. Even though he only got a two in training, the crowd seemed to coo and awe at everything this little kid said. I heard a Capitol woman say she wanted him to be the ring bearer in her wedding, and I couldn't help but start giggling. The really funny thing was when I saw him walking away; he let out a sigh of relief. Well, looks like it was all an act. Someone wasn't as happy as he led on…

The applause was already huge for Sage Hathaway's entrance. Her black feather hair was wavy and looked silky to touch. Her green eyes were bright in the spotlights, and her beak-nose still looked amazing. Her dress was bright red and floor length. The 'Song Bird', as the Capitol liked to call her, was singing away. Not literally, of course, but she just acted as if there wasn't a thing wrong in the world. She complimented the Capitol most of her interview, and came off as extremely sweet.

Scarlett Macrose was just a letdown when you compared him to his District Partner. His black hair was styled upwards, while his brown eyes had this crinkle around them. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and looked fairly adorable. His interview started off as him being cute, but things went downhill when he noticed that the Capitol thought Davis was more adorable than he was. He quickly went from 'cute and cuddly' to 'vicious and creepy'. When he left, no one really knew what to do. No one had expected a thirteen year old kid to be so… strange…

Ruth Angelo came out in a silver knee-length dress, and looked extremely cute. Her light brown hair was put into a loose bun, and her blue eyes were highlighted by the dress. Oddly enough, her angle was being sweet and cute. I, personally, could tell it was all an act. Her eyes screamed rage and hatred, but her mouth only spewed sweet words. She left, not making much of an impression. Perhaps that was her purpose. Perhaps she didn't want to get herself into any more trouble. The world may never know.

Devon Wright walked down dressed in black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a green tie. His black hair was spiked upwards, and his grey eyes seemed thoughtful. Devon's angle was to be smart. He answered each question thoughtfully, and gave the crowd what they wanted. He said everything like it was something the Capitol needed to know, which made them want to know. It was, overall, an extremely good tactic when dealing with hordes of idiots, and it paid off.

Ayla Siege, the rebel of the year, practically stormed onto the stage. She was wearing a, quite ugly, black dress. She was, of course, still bald. Her interview was the worst of the night. She pretty much just stated how much she hated this situation, and how she was done playing by everyone else's rules. Most of the crowd seemed disgusted, but I could see quite a few people had some respect for her. Her sponsor changes weren't down the drain yet…

The last of the night, Alexei Drake, walked onto the stage. His shaggy brown hair was left, well, shaggy. His brown eyes seemed to _mock_ me, and he was wearing a brown pantsuit. He was just as bad as Ayla. He was just a completely sarcastic and snarky bastard. He didn't care what we thought of him, and he made it obvious. He practically said he didn't need anyone but himself to win these games. Well, he had _certainly _better hope that he was right!

The interviews ended, and I waved to the crowd as I walked backstage. I quickly made my way back to my house, and un 'glamourfied' myself. I sat down on the bed, and just closed my eyes. Being the interviewer for the Hunger Games was just exhausting. But it was worth it. I enjoyed showing the Capitol the best in every tribute. It was nice to watch the Hunger Games, knowing that every time they got a sponsor gift it was partly because of _me_.

**District Three:**

**Thomas' POV:**

I screwed up. I screwed the entire interview process up. I, literally, got no sponsors most likely. I just wasn't good in front of large crowds. I always froze up, and lost feeling in my hands and feet. It just wasn't my strength, and it showed. Everyone in Panem thought I was a scared little boy who was going to die in the bloodbath. The sad thing was, maybe they were right…

I flopped into bed, and just closed my eyes. I had already showered and changed, and now I was tired. I didn't feel like eating dinner and having Tiner giving me that 'disappointed' look. I felt myself immediately begin to drift off into sleep…

I woke up, and knew it was still dark. I looked over at the clock, and saw it was only twenty minutes past midnight. Later this very day, I would be going into the arena. I would be going into the bloodbath.

My stomach turned into a giant knot, and I realized how hungry I really was. I turned on the light, and started messing with the panel. I had a plate of chocolate cake in minutes, and I felt the salvia begin pooling in my mouth. I was about to take the first bite, when I decided I might as well go eat in the dining room. It's not like anyone else would be up at this hour anyways.

Boy, was I wrong.

When I stepped into the dining room, I almost dropped my plate with a slice of heaven on it. Sitting on a chair, staring out the window, was Valhalla. She was wearing one of the comfortable silk robes, and was nervously tapping the table. I was about to turn around and leave, when she glanced my direction.

"You have my permission to sit," she said nonchalantly.

Oh great, here comes the Almighty Valhalla who is giving me _permission_ to do something.

However, I decided that I could always leave if she started getting nasty and mean, so I did sit down. I slowly began to eat my chocolate cake. This wasn't the Valhalla I had grown to hate over the past week. This Valhalla was nervous and anxious. She seemed almost… vulnerable in this state.

"Worried?" I asked.

She immediately stopped tapping the table, recognizing the give away to her feelings, and folded her hands in her lap. "I don't have the slightest inclination of what you are referring to."

"It's okay to be human too," I stated simply.

Her posture became even tenser, and she glared at me. "Oh, yes, it's such a great thing to be weak."

"Being human doesn't mean you're weak…" I argued quietly.

"Oh, that _what_ is being human?" she sneered.

"Living life to the fullest before… well, before you die," I whispered.

I peeked at her expression, and saw a mixture of curiosity and disdain. "Do go on."

"Well, I guess I've just learned from my mother. My father… Well, I don't know who he is. All I know is that he didn't tell my mother that he was… was… married, and they began a relationship. She found out, and left him. However, she didn't realize he was married until she was three months pregnant with me. Suffice to say, it was a hard time for her, but she refused to let life pass her by. She continued to be happy, and just look forward to the next day…"

I glanced at Valhalla again, expecting a biting remark. However, now all I saw was that she was contemplating what I had said. "I guess I know what you mean. Both my parents are… crazy in their own ways. One is a little overzealous, while the other is too logical for her own good. Guess which one I took after…"

"It's not your fault your parents are a little… off." I consoled.

Her vulnerable state and posture immediately left, and a hard look took over her face. "I guess you are right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go to bed. We both have a big day tomorrow, and I don't plan on being a wreck."

"Nice chat," I commented.

"Right, just don't expect me to not kill you in the arena." She hissed as she left.

I sighed, and just gazed at my chocolate cake. Yeah, I was definitely screwed.

**Mentor's POV:**

**District Five:**

**Memory's POV:**

I woke up, shaking. Of course, another nightmare. My nightmares always seemed to get worst right before, during, and right after the Hunger Games. At first, it was just people from my arena coming back to haunt me. I've had many, many nightmares where either Amy, Iris, or Taylor slowly torture me to death. I've had nightmares where my Aidan was slowly killed in front of me, only to come back to life and have it done to him again.

However, ever since I've become the mentor from my Districts, more people have showed up in my dreams. Mainly, my tributes that died. Two nights ago, I had a nightmare that I was chasing Danielle, only to have her turn around and imbed an axe in my stomach. The nightmare I just woke up from involved Winnifred taunting me, while Admyer slowly raked knives and sword up and down my broken body.

I just slowly breathed in and out, and placed my head in between my legs. Sometimes, it felt so real. Sometimes, when I woke up, I would just cry and cry and cry. I would scream and break things. Sometimes, I just couldn't handle it anymore.

Thankfully, this was not one of those times.

I slipped out of bed, and put my feet into the Capitol made slippers. It was like walking on clouds. I slipped into a fairly fluffy robe, and strolled over to the floor length. I turned on one of the lights, and just stared at myself in the mirror. Sometimes, I didn't know who I was anymore. The girl staring back at me looked almost insane. She was nothing like the cold hearted, bitchy woman who mentored every year.

I let out a small noise of disgust, and dove for the brush. I tried as hard as I could to brush to knots out of my red hair. My blue eyes stared back at me, and I sighed deeply. My eyes used to be a light brown, but the Capitol took even _that_ away from me. At first, I liked the change, but now it was unbearable. It just reminded me every day that I had no control, and was just a pawn.

The Capitol took everything important away from me. Sure, they gave me shiny toys to play with, but what was the point when I had no one to share it with? As of recently, Ethan had his wife, Streak had his mother, and Rouge had her baby and older sister?

Who did I have? My older sister and best friend were both married now. They didn't have time to spend with me! My older sister had two children, and my best friend, Kyliee, had one on the way. I laughed at myself, stupidly. Kyliee had always been the 'free spirit', who would flirt with all the boys and sleep with them too. Neither one of us _ever_ saw her getting married. Kyliee always said that _I_ was going to be the one to get married young. I was always the rebelios, pig-headed, smart one and she said that was attractive to almost every male in District Five. Well, both of us were wrong. I never got married, but I certainly did fall in love. It just had to be in the damn arena…

I let out a sigh of disgruntlement, and made my way towards the door to the hallway. Right when I was about to open it, I heard someone clear their throat. I was about to let out a loud scream, but I felt a hand cover my mouth. My mind automatically went back to the time when I was in the pitch black tunnels with Sophia, and I bit the hand as hard as I could. I sent elbow into the person's ribs, and spun around. I slammed my foot into the person's knee, effectively bringing them down to the floor. I leapt on top of them, and began to choke them.

"S-s-stop…"

I blinked, and suddenly I was in my room, choking Ophelia to death. I let out a yelp, rolled off of her, and held both of my hands to my chest. Ophelia began wheezing and coughing.

"What are you doing!" I yelled.

"I should be the one asking that. You almost _killed_ me!"

"Because you're in my room during the middle of the night. Plus, you snuck up behind me."

Ophelia looked sheepishly at the ground. "Not my smartest move…"

"Obviously. Now, tell me why the heck you're in here, and how long have you been here!"

"I came a little while ago. You were beginning to wake up from one of your nightmares, so I just decided to let you. Anyways, I have to show you something." Ophelia said excitedly.

I stared at her nervously. I had known Ophelia for four years now, and had only seen that expression twice. Once when she thought one of her tributes was going to win, and the other right before she attacked one of the other mentors. I wasn't exactly _ready_ to follow her blindly somewhere with that look.

"What's this about?" I asked.

Ophelia rolled her eyes, and walked over to me. She grabbed one of my wrists, and began to lead me towards the door. "You'll just have to wait and see!"

I sighed, and followed her aimlessly. My mind began to wander. Ophelia had always been… an odd one. She was one of the two only living victors from her District, just like me, and she won oddly. The arena had man eating flowers as traps, and she was the daughter of a florist. So she survived because she wasn't stupid enough to try to eat, pick, or sniff any of the flowers. Then, she killed three other tributes based on stealth. Twice she fell from a tree and killed them. Then when it was the final two and it was between her and one Career, she hid in the very back of the Cornucopia behind the supplies until he fell asleep. Her entire life, she always seemed a little odd. It only got worse when she lost both of her children in last year's games. From what I could, they were all she had left.

"We're here," she whispered seriously. I refocused my attention, and realized Ophelia had led me to basement below the Training Center where they stored all the training supplies. "We have an hour or so until the cameras and bugs kick back in. That's all he could give us before the Capitol would notice."

"Wait… What? Who is he?" My mind was swirling. Ophelia went from being her usual nutty self to being dead serious.

"He'll be here momentarily. He wanted to meet you again, but I'll try to explain it before he gets here."

"Explain what! Why couldn't you have explained it in my room!" I hissed. _Now_ I was getting scared.

"They bugged your room, just like they did with every room in this stupid building. Plus, they watch mentors rooms like hawks. They never think to check these cameras except once or twice every six hours."

"Well, tell me what you want to tell me!" I said hurriedly.

"It's simple. I'm starting a rebellion."

"_What_."

My mouth was probably hitting the floor. She just said that as if she was stating the weather!

"Just listen. I'm sick and tired of the government using and abusing us. All I have left is revenge, and I'm going to seek it. I want President Raven to burn for what she's done, but more importantly, I want to stop the Hunger Games."

"You are listening to yourself, right? This isn't going to work! The other two rebellions failed completely and utterly," I hissed.

"Oh, yes it is. The first rebellion was pretty much just District Thirteen. The second rebellion was a few more Districts, but not enough. They both failed because they targeted the _wrong thing."_

"You're losing me," I whispered. My heart was beating, and I felt like I was going to vomit.

"Don't you see? The Hunger Games can't survive without the Capitol, and the Capitol can't survive without the Hunger Games. The other two rebellions saw that, and tried to take _down_ the Capitol. What I'm planning on doing is _joining_ the Capitol and bringing down the Hunger Games."

My mind was going a million miles an hour. This was all too sudden. I couldn't process it.

Ophelia continued, "There have been so many protests in the Capitol recently. If we can get the citizens on our side, we won't even need the Districts help. We just need to take it down from the inside out, not the outside in."

"Why are you telling me this," I said shakily.

Ophelia walked up to me, and put both of her hands on my shoulders, "Because, I need you. I have a plan that will not only show the Districts and the Capitol that President Raven doesn't have all the power, but will also show the citizens of the Capitol how _heart wrenching_ the Hunger Games are. Show them that the tributes are real people."

"Why do you need me…"

"Memory, you are one of the bravest people I have ever met. The entire reason you won your games was because of how brave you were. If wouldn't have taken the risks you took in your arena, I guarantee you that you would be dead. That's what I need. I need someone to reach the other victor's and mentor's that I can't. You can convince others to join us. You can help the allies we already have iron out our plans. You are the key to getting other victors on our side."

"I don't see why I should help you. It's suicide!"

"Aren't you tired of having your life dictated for you? Aren't you sick of worrying that the Capitol can take away everything from you within seconds?"

I looked into Ophelia's eyes, and saw tears pooling and spilling over. I was _tired_ of this. I wasn't _living_ my life. I was just going through the motions. I was _tired_ of being a pawn.

"What do you want me to do?"

Ophelia broke out into one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen, and hugged me. "I have plans, and I just want you to listen to orders. I don't have anything for you to do this very second, but I will soon."

I just nodded, and hugged her as hard as I could. Every year, I never left the Control Room because I wanted to help my tributes to the best of my ability. I wanted them to be safe, and come home. Now, I could actually do that. Now, I could possibly stop all of this, and do something important.

"I'm assuming she said yes."

I let go of Ophelia and turned around. A man came out of the darkness, and I just stared at him. He looked so familiar…

Finally, I recognized him. "You're the man from my Victory Tour. The man from District Three," I said with a shocked expression on my face.

After I had given my speech at District Three during the Victory Tour, a man came up to me and thanked me. I remembered how sincere I thought the tears were in his bright brown eyes.

"Ah, so you remember me," he smiled sadly.

"Ophelia?" I asked.

"Memory, meet Justice." Ophelia muttered, "I smuggled him into the Capitol to help with technical things, such as computers and viruses. He picked some things up from his… ex-girlfriend."

"I'm sorry… I don't understand. Why do you say it like that?" I asked.

"I lost my girlfriend in the Hunger Games." He stated sadly.

Another victim of the Capitol. "I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault. Misty killed her, not you."

I felt my eyes bug open, and my mouth dropped again. "You're…. you're Taylor's boyfriend?"

He nodded, and I felt tears pool in my eyes. Taylor was one of the most likely tributes to win in my games. She was good at fighting, and the Capitol adored her. I remember her talking about her boyfriend, but she never mentioned him. Anyways, I never really met her until the very last day of my Hunger Games. She stopped me from killing her ally, but Misty killed her anyways. She comforted me when I broke down, and we fought Misty together. Suffice to say, I out survived them both. Misty and I were both bleeding heavily, but Misty had poisoned Taylor.

"I'm… I'm so sorry," I repeated again.

"I want to end these games. End them for good. End them for Taylor. And, if that means I die, so be it."

There was a few seconds of silence before I asked, "So you debugged this room?"

"For now… It will be back online in a little bit."

After another few seconds of silence, Justice asked, "Where are they Ophelia?"

"Don't worry, they're in our base, safe and sound." Ophelia smiled.

"Who?"

"Taylor's little sisters… After Taylor died, her mother died from an illness a year or so later. I've been taking care of them ever since." Justice said.

I nodded sadly. So this was it. The three of us, and Capitolian protestors. Fighting to end the Hunger Games. The weird thing was, I wasn't scared anymore. I was prepared. I felt like the Memory before the Hunger Games. The wild child who was willing to do anything to stay alive. For the first time, in a long time, I felt like I could breathe. I smiled to myself, and just glared at the wall. Memory Summit, victor of the 222nd Hunger Games, wasn't a _pawn_ anymore. I was the chess master, and it was about time I took control of this game!

**Next chapter is the bloodbath. Okay, first, it's time for a little explanation. Sorry the interviews are so short. I just hate them, and I'm bad at doing the dialogue for them. In fact, the only thing I do like about the interviews is the clothes XD is that bad? **

**So, P.S. those of you who read the 222****nd**** Hunger Games, are you happy that Justice is back? I'm curious if you think he's a good addition to my sub plot rebellion haha. **

**Okay, so please review. I tried to make this chapter interesting. Oh, and my question of the chapter, besides the bonus question of Justice, is do you like how I'm spinning the rebellion? I'm trying to make it different from all the other one's I read, and I'm also trying to avoid a Katniss Everdeen rebellion. Oh, and yes, there is more to this rebellion that meets the eye. Ophelia has a killer plan that I think you'll all love, once you find out what it is!**


	26. Bloodbath

**All points of view after Camilla's will start right when the gong rings.**

**Bloodbath:**

**District Seven:**

**Jacqie's POV:**

"Get out of bed! If you want to be hygienic and presentable, you need to shower _now!_!"

My eyes fluttered open, and I gazed at Beth. She had a wild look in her eyes, and appeared to be ready to pounce on top of me if I didn't wake up this very second. I let out a full-sized yawn just to annoy her, and scrambled out of bed. I marched towards the bathroom, and slammed the door behind me.

I showered as quickly as I could, and tried not to think too much.

I was absolutely terrified.

The bloodbath was going to be extremely soon! It was creeping closer and closer, and all I wanted to do was run away. I was scared that I would be killed. I was scared that I wouldn't get any supplies, and die. I was scared that no matter what I did, I was going to die!

I took in a deep breath, and exhaled calmly. I changed into a random ensemble of clothes because I knew I would have to change into the mandatory arena outfit soon anyways. I stepped out into the hallway, and found that Michael, our escort, was just about to knock on my door.

"Beth has already gone to the Control Center to set things up. She wanted me to tell you to not be such a smartass in the arena. Streak should be waiting by the hovercraft that is on top of the roof."

I nodded slowly, and followed Michael towards the elevator. Lucian was trailing close behind, and I wanted to just shudder with revulsion. We hadn't talked since that _moment_, if you will, on the train, but I always caught him looking at me. Looking at me as if I was prey.

I didn't know why he wanted to kill me so much. In fact, I was the person he should want to kill least! Whenever someone purposefully killed their District Partner when it wasn't absolutely necessary, the District they were from almost always hated them. It was just an unwritten rule.

We made it to the roof in one piece, and I saw the hovercraft was ready for takeoff. Streak walked over to Lucian and muttered something to him.

A few seconds later, he walked over to me and said, "Good luck, Jacqie. Even though I'm Lucian's mentor, I will always be on your side as well. Don't forget that…"

"Thank you…" I muttered back.

Streak nodded once to each of us, and disappeared into an elevator. Michael ushered us unto the hovercraft. It took off fairly quickly, and I felt my heart begin to thump even faster. It also didn't help that Michael left the sitting room, and I was alone with Lucian.

After a few minutes of mini heart attacks and awkward moments galore, Lucian talked to me. "Are you nervous yet?"

I was shocked by the simply, _normal_, question, but when I looked at him he was giving me a vicious grin.

"No," I lied bravely.

"You should be. The _second_ the gong sounds, I'm coming right for _you_."

I had to repress the shudders wanting to escape throughout my skeletal structure.

"Why, in dear Panem's name, do you want me _dead_ so badly!"

Lucian looked at me thoughtfully for a second. "Run away, honeybee."

My eyes widened for a second, and his smile became even larger. That phrase sounded so familiar. My head began pounding, and I gripped it swiftly. I tried to remember where I heard that phrase from, but I was drawing a blank.

"Poor Jacqueline. You still don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what!" I said with as much anger as I could muster.

"Don't worry. I'll remind you while I watch the life leave your eyes later today," he winked.

Before I could ask anything else, the hovercraft came to an abrupt stop. The bottom hatch opened, and six Peacekeepers rushed in. They rapidly blindfolded me, and threw me over one of their shoulders like a sack of bark.

I wanted to fight back, but I knew I wasn't in danger _yet_. Instead, I counted the time. We walked forward for about five minutes, and soon we entered something that took us downward. It was an extremely long descent, and once we exited, what I assumed was an elevator; we walked forward for about ten to fifteen more minutes. Eventually, we entered a room, and I was flung onto a chair. I felt everyone leave the room, except one person, who undid my blindfold.

Rocque, my stylist, was standing right in front of me. I let a small smile grace my face for a few seconds, and gave him a hug.

I felt tears begin to pool in my eyes when I heard him mutter, "You'll be okay. I just know it."

I blinked away the tears when I felt him let go, and nodded confidently. Rocque walked over to a package, and carefully undid the wrapping. He brought out my outfit, and I stared at it, perplexed. I changed out of my clothing, and then into the new clothing.

I looked at my reflection in the floor length mirror. I was in a skin tight black jumpsuit. And I mean _skin tight_. I was covered from my neck to my toes. The shoes were attached to the jumpsuit, and to take it off there was a zipper in the front. Then, over it, the designers gave us an almost blinding white jacket that covered my arms and went down to my knees.

"Racque?" I questioned.

Racque walked up beside me. He touched the fabric, and rubbed it in between his fingers. "I honestly have no idea, Jacqie. It offers practically no protection when it comes to fighting, and very little when it comes to the weather. The only thing the jacket will do is make you easier to detect and possibly keep any rain off of you. The only positive thing I can see from this outfit is that it doesn't restrain you in any way, and it is extremely light so that means you have less weight to carry. I guess we'll just have to see what the arena holds once you're inside of it…"

I let out a heavy sigh, and plopped down into one of the comfortable chairs. After about twenty minutes, I heard Rocque mutter. "It's time."

I stood up, trying not to shake, and walked over to the metal plate. I stepped inside, and looked at Rocque.

"You'll be fine," he smiled reassuringly. "I'll see you in a few weeks."

As soon as he said that, the plastic glass came down forcefully between us. The plate began to rise, and I forced my hands on my knees. Rocque was right… He was going to see me in a few weeks… The only undetermined part of that statement was if he was going to see me dead or alive…

**District One:**

**Cami's POV:**

The plate began rising, and I forced myself to look as calm and composed as I could. Yes, even the great Camilla Starkweather was anxious. Part of me was looking forward to killing, and the other part of me feared that I would somehow, someway be killed.

I was blinded by a light, and slammed my hands against my eyes. Once I was sure that I could handle the sudden light change, I dropped my hands.

_Oh shit!_

The arena was the size of the Training Room times two. All of the tributes were evenly spaced out, but there was a great distance between every tribute. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all completely stark white. I saw four exits on each corner of the room, which, thankfully meant that the arena was bigger than _this_. The Cornucopia was in the center of the room, filled with plenty of supplies. However, the thing I noticed was that there was a black triangle on top of the Cornucopia.

"Hello tributes of the 226th Hunger Games," I voice rang out.

I could see confusion on every tribute's face. No sixty second countdown yet?

Suddenly, light emitted from the top of the black triangle, and a women in white appeared. I recognized her as the Head Gamemaker Lavender.

"I decided, as Head Gamemaker, to switch things up for these Hunger Games," Lavender smirked, "This year; I decided to throw in a twist involving the arena. I do hope all of you enjoy it!"

Great, we're back to oh _shit_!

"The arena, this year, isn't very large width wise. However, height wise it is incredibly gigantic."

Suddenly, Lavender disappeared and was replaced with a map. It looked like an upside down triangle. I assumed we were on the lowest floor, because it was the smallest. Each floor upwards got a little bigger, giving the illusion of a triangle. There were twelve floors total, and then above it was a flat surface. Above the flat surface, the words "Area Unknown" flashed.

"As you can see, each floor gets bigger. The twist of this year's games is to escape up to the surface. If you don't, you die. For example, by the end of Day One, anyone who is on floor one will be dead. At the end of Day Two, anyone one floor two will be dead. See the pattern?"

I just chuckled internally. Yeah, like that's a big deal! The Career alliance would be to the surface by Day Five!

"Now, you're all probably thinking no big deal. Well, that's where you're wrong. When it is Day Two, floor two will have a special prize on it. Then, on Day Three, floor three will have a special prize on it. So, if you think you'll need something a little extra to win these games, you have a change to get it! However, you must be warned, on Day Two, floor two will have more dangerous mutts and traps than it does today. Same rules apply to all other floors when their corresponding day comes. So, the real question is, will you escape as quickly as possible, or risk your lives to get something that could inevitably win this game for you?"

My brain was in overdrive. This arena was so complex, but I think I understood it.

"Oh, and before I go, whoever gets to the Cornucopia first can take this black triangle. If you press the button under it, it can act as a map of the arena for you. Does that give any of you some incentive?"

Her image faded from view, and I glanced to the tributes next to me. Ruth was to my left, and the girl from District Five was to my right. Suddenly, the gong sounded. I hadn't been sixty seconds, but I guess Lavender's message had taken up _way_ more than sixty seconds.

Then I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

When the gong did sound, walls rose up as fast as lightening around me. I was incased by walls, except for behind me and in front of me. Then it hit me. This was to give people a chance. I sprinted forward, and took a left, and then a right. I kept changing directions.

Damn, Lavender decided to make a complex maze. This was to change the bloodbath. This was to give tributes the choice to either try to crack the maze and find the Cornucopia, or find the exit. It was to give the tributes a chance to actually get some supplies.

_Damn_ Lavender!

I was about to keep running when I saw a flash of black above me. I raised my hands, instinctively, to grab it. My eyes eventually targeted it, and I realized it was Ruth! My hands grazed her foot, but I didn't get a good grip on it.

I let out another scream, and punched one of the white walls. Ruth just had to be _smart_. When the walls rose up, instead of instinctively freezing like most people, she probably jumped on top of the rising wall. In an act of desperation, I tried to jump and get a grip on top of the wall. No, it was just tall enough for probably the tallest tribute to touch it, but not be able to grip it. Screw Ruth for actually using her brain for once. Well, maybe she didn't use her brain, but she used her guts, and it definitely was going to pay off when she could take her sweet time going through the supplies and taking whatever she wanted!

Instead of wasting more time, I started sprinting through the maze again. I came to many, _many_ dead ends, but I could tell I was getting closer and closer. It was weird being able to hear the noises of the bloodbath, but not being able to see them. I heard girlish shrieks, and moans of pain.

However, the noise that perked my interest the most was a gasp. I spun around, and saw Ayla standing right where I had come from.

"Have you been stalking me, Ayla? I'm flattered, really I am!" I taunted.

Ayla's gasp of shock went away only to be replaced with a look of determination. "Ready to die, Camilla?"

I let out a snarl, and readied my fists. This year, there weren't any supplies spread throughout the arena floor. They were all at the Cornucopia. That meant it was either all or nothing, but that also meant that any battling outside of the Cornucopia would be hand to hand combat.

"You know you can't win," I taunted again as we slowly began to walk towards each other, "Sure, you're great with throwing knives and you're extremely fast. However, you're weaker than a piece of brittle, unconditioned hair."

"Don't worry. You'll be surprised when I kill you," she shrieked. She leapt towards me at an extremely fast speed. I barely stepped out of the way, and she went rolling across the floor. I let out a cold, short laugh and hurdled right at her. I drove my foot right into her stomach, and she let out a low grunt.

She surprised me by grabbing my leg, and scratching her nails into my right calf. I let out a surprised screech, and kicked her in the face. Blood twirled away from her face like a pirouette, and shuddered with anticipation. Oh yes, I was going to enjoy _this_.

However, Ayla took advantage of my temporary distraction, and stood up shakily. She leapt at me again, and this time I couldn't move out of the way. She sent her fist into my throat, effectively beating the air out of my body. She grabbed my hair, and pulled as hard as she could. I grabbed at her hands with my own, and dug my fingernails into her fingers. I thrashed about under her, and felt the blood from her hands dripping on my face.

She eventually let go, and I forced her under me. I sent my knee into her chest, and grabbed her neck. I tried to hit the pressure point that would temporarily paralyze her for five seconds, but I barely nicked it. Ayla grabbed my arm, and bit down as hard as she could. I let out a howl of pure agony, and smashed my fist into her bald skull. This just forced her to bite down harder, effectively tearing a chunk of muscle away from my arm.

In my moment of pain, she forced me back under her, and she gripped my throat. I felt my eyes pop open, and I tried to get her off of me by thrashing about. However, even though I was stronger than her, she was far more determined. She had a death grip on my throat, just like she did on my hair, and she wasn't going to let go. Red began to cloud my vision, and the outsides began to blur.

I finally stopped, knowing it was futile. There was no way she was letting go. She kept smashing my head against the ground, and I tried to groan or scream, but it was impossible. So, this is what it's like to die? Everything just starts to fade in and out, and the first things to pop into your heard are your family and friends? The first person to come to my mind was Brianna. I hated her. I hated her so much. She was the reason our mother was dead. Our mother died giving birth to that _spawn_! Yet, I couldn't bring up the anger I had towards her. All I wanted was to be back home now with my family. Sure, it wasn't perfect. We certainly had our problems, but it was _home_. I wanted to do the things I never got to do because of training. Instead of being with my gang and fighting, I wanted to find superficial friends and go shopping. I just wanted to be a normal District One girl. I wanted to get married. I wanted to find love, no matter how twisted it would be because of how _screwed_ up I am. I wanted so many things in these last few seconds that I never had wanted before. And the heartbreaking thing was that I knew I could never get them. Finally, everything faded into darkness, and I was free…

Or so I thought.

Suddenly, I huge weight was lifted off of me, and I could hear myself gasp for breath. I swallowed each breath as if it was of the divine gods. My vision returned, albeit blurry, and I could make out someone had Ayla in a choke hold from behind. I swiftly scrambled out from underneath her, and back up against one of the walls. My vision returned enough to make out that the other tribute was _Asita_, and I saw Ayla finally throw her off. Ayla stood up quickly and kicked Asita as hard as she could in the leg.

Before she could hurt Asita again, I grabbed Ayla by the ear and threw her to the ground. With a feeling of complete ecstasy, I realized I still had Ayla's torn ear in my hand even though she was on the ground. I let out a high pitched giggle, and kicked Ayla in the stomach. With every kick, every punch, I giggled even louder and higher. Finally my laughter changed from giggles to cackles. Blood was splattered across the walls, and my white jacket. Well, used to be white jacket.

I looked down at my handy work, and saw Ayla twitching. I squatted down next to her, and gave her a toothy grin. I grabbed her by the chin, and forced her to look me in the eyes.

"Choke on this, bitch."

I forced her jaw open, and shoved her own ear down her throat. I then kept her jaw shut as she spasmed out of control. It was the most delightful thing to watch her choke on her own appendage. To watch the breath get caught in her body. To watch all life slowly die until there was nothing left but a beautiful corpse.

I glanced back, and saw Asita cowering against one of the white walls.

I walked over to her, and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She was obviously upset by how I killed Ayla, but she would have to get used to it. She was in the Career Alliance after all.

"Why did you save me?" I questioned, "You could have had one of the most dangerous competitors out of the game. Why?"

Asita stood up shakily. "You're my ally. I wasn't going to stand by and watch you die. It doesn't matter how strong you are, or how much of a threat you'll be later. Right now, we're in this together."

I smiled again, and Asita trembled a little bit. She was good on putting a brave face, but she was absolutely horrified right now. "Don't worry, I'll remember this. Plus, you've just put yourself in my good graces. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're my favorite member in the Career Alliance right now. Never thought I'd say that."

Asita laughed a little, "No, I'm not your favorite. I'm just the only one who you owe…"

"You're right, I do owe you. I just don't plan on owing you more, or anyone else anything else after right now."

I put my hand out to shake hers, and she took it rather quickly. Even in the midst of the blood and destruction, I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm assuming you're stylist unzipped you're jumpsuit that low."

She glanced downwards and started laughing as well. Her jumpsuit and jacket was unbuttoned and unzipped in such a way that you had a clear view of the top of her breasts. She was certainly giving everyone an eyeful.

"No, I did it. You never know when a horny, rich sponsor is watching."

I laughed even louder, and linked my arm in hers. "Come on; let's find our way to the Cornucopia."

We walked over Ayla's body, and I noticed how Asita averted her eyes from the masterpiece I had created. Did I _really_ like Asita? A little bit. Did I like her as much as I was acting? Hell no! Let's just say when everyone least expected it; I was going to do _something_. I had no idea what that 'something' was, but I did know one thing. I knew now that I could kill, and I knew that it was the _most enjoyable thing I had ever done. _

**District Five:**

**Winnifred's POV:**

The gong rang out across the arena, and the walls rose up around me. I heard screams of surprise, but I couldn't even muster a gasp of shock. Instead, I stood frozen on my plate for a few seconds before I remembered that if you stayed on the metal plate for too long the Gamemaker's might set off mines, effectively killing you.

I forced my legs to move. All I could focus on for a minute was moving one foot in front of another. Finally, I took in my surroundings, the different twists and turns, and realized I was in some sort of maze. That certainly made sense why they had a puzzle/maze station. I tried to remember all the different mazes, and a few certain ones popped into my mind. Then, the instructor's words popped into my head, giving me a revelation.

_Remember, having an aerial view of the maze makes it easy to figure it out. Being inside a maze is a different story. If you ever find yourself in this situation, your best bet is to remember your trail as well as you can, while avoiding any dangers the maze may present you._

His subtle warning was to never go the same way twice unless you were back tracking, and to avoid tributes that might cause me harm. I tried to think of a way to contact my allies, Lucy and Jacqie, but no idea popped into my head. I realized rather quickly that most alliances would have to either meet up at the Cornucopia, or meet up later in the game because finding an ally in this huge labyrinth would be near impossible.

I began jogging forward, towards the Cornucopia. If I could figure out this maze before the Careers, than I would have my pick of the supplies. As I went forward through the maze, I took the most logical roots possible. I went in the direction that would take me towards the center, but also sometimes I continued to go either right of left, in case going forward would lead to a dead end. My strategy paid off most of the time, but other times I would walk right into a dead end. There was one time I even saw Lucian racing down a hallway.

Obviously, I went the opposite direction.

After five or ten minutes, I emerged through a hallway to find myself in the center of the room. The Cornucopia was gleaming in the artificial light, and the supplies were still abundant. I almost thought I was the first one there, but I saw Ruth emerge from the inside of the Cornucopia with a truck load of supplies. She had several knives strapped into her belt, a jacket filled with throwing knives, four swords, and four backpacks. I also saw she had the black triangle stuffed clumsily into one of her backpacks.

I assumed the rest of the supplies were for her alliance. Suddenly, at the other entrance to the Cornucopia room, Valhalla appeared. Both of us were blocking Ruth's exit, and she noticed. She sent a glare and snarl towards Valhalla before hurdling towards me. Instead of dodging out of the way, my eyes fixated themselves on her sword, and I froze.

I was going to die.

I stood as frozen as a statue, ready for the impact. However, Ruth simply brushed past me, and I let out a sigh of relief. I ran right into the thickest part of the Cornucopia. I rummaged through the supplies, trying to find what my allies and I needed. I kept my eyes on Valhalla, but she was searching through the supplies for what she wanted. She didn't show any ill harm towards me, and was probably thinking the same thing I was.

The Careers could be here any second.

I finally got the supplies I wanted. A doubled side axe that Jordana would kill for, a simple, curved knife, and bow and a quiver of arrows for me. I also grabbed a few other knives, and three backpacks. I had no idea what was in each one, and I couldn't care less. All I could hear was noises of screaming, and voices of shouting getting closer and closer.

I glanced over at Valhalla, and saw she had two backpacks strapped to her back. She had emptied the supplies that were already in them, and had replaced them with food and water from other backpacks. She also had three knives, two spools of wire, and a lot of rope. The last thing I noticed was that a black case was swinging lazily by her side. I had no idea what it was, but she seemed to be thrilled by her find.

Her cold blue eyes met with mine, and we nodded at each other. I had a feeling she would win in a fight, and she just didn't want to waste any more time.

I sprinted towards the way I came in, and saw a tribute emerge from it. I quickly brushed past the District Nine boy, and kept sprinting. I had to get away… I had to get away…

I ran faster and faster, not looking back. I now specifically heard one girl screaming, and the screams made my stomach do flips. There was also fits of laughter, and I'm pretty sure I even heard one person singing. My feet were flying of the ground.

I was terrified. I had plenty of supplies that any tribute would kill me for, and I wouldn't be able to hold most of them off. Plus, the supplies were slowing me down. I took a left down a corridor, and froze where I stood.

Sprinting towards me was the boy from District Two, Apollo.

He skidded to a stop a mere ten feet away from me. He raised his fists menacingly, and I clumsily notched an arrow. My entire body was shaking. There was no way I could take down a Career. I was going to be a bloodbath.

He stalked towards me slowly, and I let my arrow fly. Because of my shaking, it flew past him, missing him by at least a foot.

His eyes glistened and he stopped moving. "You look so much like Dacia… My sister…"

He began walking towards me again, and I was rooted to where I stood. He was only a few feet away when I felt a fire in my gut. I was done being a deer in the headlights.

I quickly reeled my fist back and sent it straight into Apollo's face.

He stumbled backwards, mostly from surprise, and I sprinted past him. I continued to run, waiting to hear his pursuit. There were no sounds of any sort of chase, and I let a small smile spread across my face.

I was terrible at games. I always had been, and I always will be. Because of this fact, I let myself give up. Every time death was coming, I just let it happen, thinking it was inevitable. Now everything was different. This maze, this _arena_, was just a _giant puzzle_! Ever since I was little, I was fantastic at puzzles! As long as I steered clear from the actual Hunger Games, survived, and made my way through each puzzle, I had a chance of winning! For the first time in days, I had a new sense of hope within myself.

**District Two:**

**Jordana's POV:**

The gong rang out, and the walls came up.

This was just _fabulous_.

Mazes were definitely not my strongest suit. Not to say I wasn't smart, but I preferred to punch my way through obstacles instead of going around them. It was just a personal preference of mine, that's all.

I jogged through the maze, not really paying attention to anything. All I was looking for was the Cornucopia, or possible tributes. Again, it's not that I wanted to kill, but if I saw a tribute right now I would have no problem charging towards them fists swinging. The only way I was getting home was by killing the competition. If I just sat around, and hoped everyone else did it for me, I was going to be dead before Day Three.

I tried kicking and punching a few walls, hoping they might break down, but it was useless. These walls appeared to be at least six inches thick, and were made of steel. Yeah, I wasn't going to be able to break these things. I continued to jog about, when I spotted a tribute.

Lucy, the girl from District Six, had a look of shock on her face. I put on a mask of indifference, and quickly cracked my knuckles.

Time to add to my kill list.

I used my legs to throw myself forward with as much momentum as possible. I rushed towards her like a charging bull, ready to sink my fists into her body. She held out her hands, as if she was going to try and block me. I was only twenty feet away, when I was suddenly on the ground.

I rubbed my head, and looked in front of me. Now there was a _wall_ in front of me.

"What the-" I screamed.

I pounded on the wall as hard as I could. Why would the Gamemakers put a wall between a Career and a lowly tribute? Why would they protect her?

I shook my head. It was probably just a Gamemaker's trap. They weren't on any tributes side.

I noticed a path to my right had opened up, and I ran through it. I heard a bloodcurdling scream, and I knew it was Cami. Hopefully Lucian went psycho and was going to kill her. Cami was one smart, manipulative, competitor, and it would be nice to see her go down on Day One. It would make my life a heck of a lot easier.

I ran towards the screams, but actually ended up even farther away. I sighed in frustration, and kept going on the path I was already on. Mazes just _weren't_ my thing.

Finally, a tribute was locked in my scopes.

"Well look who we have here," I smirked.

Devon spun around, and just stared at me blankly. Eh, not the reaction I expected, but it certainly worked. I stalked towards him. Just a few punches to the skull should kill him. I wanted it to be as quick and painless as I could.

I expected him to run, or raise up his fists, but he just stood there.

Once I was within striking distance, I asked, "Why aren't you doing anything?"

"What's the point?" he shrugged, "I've seen the bloodbaths. Anytime someone fights against a Career, they end up in even more pain before they die. What's the point of prolonging the unavoidable?"

A good portion of me wanted to argue with him and say nothing was certain, but then I remembered by saying that I was admitting there was a chance that he could beat me. I quickly jabbed my fist into his stomach, and he stumbled backwards.

"Still feel that way?"

Before he could respond, I rammed my knee into his face, and he went spiraling backwards. His face was dripping with blood, and his eyes lit up in recognition that no matter what he did, he was going to feel pain.

Perhaps that's what gave him the initiative to run away. I had to admit, the rascal was fairly fast, but I had far better stamina then him. I also had to admit, he almost lost me a few times, but I could always find his trail because of the blood that was dripping off of his face. Once I caught up to him, I sent a hard kick into his knee. He let out a howl of pain, and fell face first to the ground.

Ouch.

I picked him up by the throat like a mother dog does to her baby, and smashed him into one of the walls. I moved my right hand around so that his breathing was cut off, and he stared at me with the same vacant expression.

He didn't kick.

He didn't fight.

He just stared at me.

I looked away from him, and willed myself to not let go. I knew I could kill someone who was trying to kill me but _this_? I couldn't do this. This was cold blooded murder! He couldn't fight back, and I was just letting the life drain out of him. I felt the blood from his face begin to spiral down my hands, and drip to the floor.

I had to let go.

I had to let go.

By the time I forced my hand to let go, he crumbled to the ground, dead. I stared at his body, and shakily fell to my knees. I pressed my now blood hand to my chest, and felt tears well up in my eyes. I thought that killing would be easy. I just thought of it as fighting. Fighting for my life, but Asita was right. As I knelt in Devon's blood, tears rolling down my face, only one thought went through my mind.

_I wasn't a fighter. I was a murderer._

**District Eleven:**

**Sage's POV:**

The gong rang out, and I let out a scream as the walls engulfed me. In my panicked state, I fled forward without thinking. I could hear shouts and screams, and I knew that the bloodbath was happening all around me. Every single noise I heard, I tried to pick out if it was Scar or Davis. However, soon every shout of pain or surprise began to sound the same. _It all sounded the same_.

I stopped running, and fell the ground. I grabbed my _feathered_ hair and began to pull. This _wasn't_ me. I wasn't designed to be in these games! I didn't have the mentality to kill even if it was to protect two young children. I didn't have the heart to be able to listen to tortured screams, knowing people were dying around me. The screams echoed around me, as if they were saying _Save us! Save us you brainless twit!_

I felt the feathers come free from my hair, and I threw them at the ground. I touched my beak, and trembled with pain. This was fake! All of me was so fake! The Capitol has made me one of them!

I felt my breathing become even shallower. I was a freak. I was an outcast. If I ever got home, all I would be was the Bird Girl. No one would ever respect me! No one would ever want to _marry_ me! I would never get the house full of children and music! I would never be able to be free. I was always going to be just a songbird in a cage.

I felt bile begin to rise up my throat, and I let the floodgates open. Everything I had eaten since yesterday came out in a river of acid and food. I stood up, and swayed from left to right.

I was always going to be trapped.

I was always going to be in a cage.

I let out a small chuckle that soon escalated into a gale of laugher. There was no point of being the protector anymore! If I was in a cage, how could I help anyone else? No, all I could do was protect myself.

I felt my eyes bulge open, and I just grinned. Those brainless idiots didn't need me! Scar was obviously just using me. Please, do all of you think I'm that stupid? I knew he was a conniving little brat, but I overlooked it because I thought there had to be some good in him. Now, I couldn't care less if he was dead.

As for Davis, he was a sweet kid, but what asset was he to me? He couldn't do anything, and I needed to be strong. If I was going to be trapped in a cage, I wasn't going to be a little obedient song bird who calmly sat on its perch. I was going to fly around the cage, crash into every bar holding me in, and peck at anything that came near me.

I let out another gale of laughter, and began to stalk forwards. First, I just had to get my hands on a bow and some arrows. After that, everyone else would be mine for the killing. Soon, I began singing. Singing the song my mother always loved.

For some reason, the song that used to sound so joyous to me now sounded so eerily quiet. I continued to sing as I stalked down every corridor, daring anyone and everyone to come and find me. I twirled and danced about, singing verse after verse. I continued down every corridor until I found the entrance to the Cornucopia. I slowly walked in, and realized no one was around. I noticed a good portion of the supplies were missing, which meant others had been here. However, now it was empty, and much to my liking.

I saw a golden bow glittering in the pile, and I couldn't help but dance towards it. My smile never left my face, and my singing became louder and shriller. Each high note, I hit as hard as I could. Right before I got to the Cornucopia, something leapt at me, and I spun out of the way. I turned around to see Lucian on the ground with a feral snarl across his face.

Oh, so he was just waiting for some unsuspecting tribute to stumble upon an empty Cornucopia area, and then kill them? Well, he certainly thought I was an innocent little bird.

A few hours ago, he would have been right.

He lunged at me again and I noticed something glittering in his hands. The knife imbedded itself into my stomach, and I let out a low moan of pain. He shoved me to the ground, and slowly drew the knife out. I looked into Lucian's brown eyes, and saw pleasure in them. Oh, I understood now. He wasn't into the torture. He was into the hunt. He liked to hunt people down, and reduce them to the point where they wouldn't beg for mercy, but beg for them to end their life. Usually, the person had to be tortured a considerable amount to be moved to that state, but not this girl. This girl had a plan.

"Oh, please don't kill me!" I screamed out with false fear.

He raked his knife across my left cheek lightly.

"Maybe I'll consider it."

I quickly wriggled my left wrist out from under his body and grabbed his wrist with the knife in it. "Or maybe I'll be the one considering it!"

I let out a shrill laugh, and bent his wrist backwards. He let out a cry of shock and pain, and I swiftly yanked the knife out of his hand. I smashed it into his shoulder, and tried to shove him off of me.

Instead of rolling over like I expected, he let out a harsh laugh.

He _enjoyed_ the pain.

Soon, his laughter made me giggle, and he did roll off of me. We both started laughing so hard, that we couldn't even breathe. Tears rolled down both of our faces, and we rolled around in the blood that was oozing out of both of our bodies. My trill chortling was complimented by his low cackling. I was clutching my stomach in pain and in joy, while he couldn't help but keep laughing. Soon, I began singing again, and he joined in. He didn't know the words, but he kept up with the tune. After a few minutes of singing mixed with laughing, we both slowly got down from our highs. Lucian grabbed the knife out of his shoulder, and jabbed it into my throat. I could feel him slowly tearing it across my neck, and I just kept trying to sing and laugh. I was finally free! Just like I always wanted! I could finally fly and be free!

**District Six:**

**Adam's POV:**

The gong sounded, and I was suddenly surrounded by walls. I looked around, completely confused, but decided I had better get moving. I decided to go towards the Cornucopia, because I needed the supplies. Without them, I was as good as dead.

With every turn, I realized more and more how complicated this was. They just had to throw a complicated maze into the already complicated bloodbath. I was surprised by the myriad of noises heard. Gasps of shock. Screams of pain. Laughter. I even heard singing at one point.

Part of me wanted to believe that it was just the Gamemakers messing with us tributes, but I recognized one screech sounding vaguely like Ace. I continued to jog at a steady pace, taking my time. I wasn't going to be able to crack this maze, so I just had to keep trying trial and error. After ten or fifteen minutes, I bumped into the one person I actually wanted to see.

"Charlotte!" I yelled.

She spun around, and I smile broke out over her face. She ran towards me, and tackled me into a large hug. After a few seconds, I put her down.

"Do you have any idea where the Cornucopia is?"

She sighed, "Not a clue. We should keep looking."

With that comment, we raced forwards, and took the corridor that neither one of us had entered from. We raced through the labyrinth, constantly coming to dead ends. I knew we were probably going to be one of the last tributes to make it to the Cornucopia, and I could only pray that the Careers were even slower than us.

After an additional five minutes, I whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Both of us stopped moving, and we listened intently. At first it was quiet, but soon it was a crescendo of laughter. We carefully walked towards it, and in to next to no time it was right next to us. We peered around the corner, and saw the Cornucopia glittering with supplies. Then, about twenty feet away from it, was Lucian and Sage rolling around in their own blood, laughing their heads off.

I shook with complete horror. How could two people go that batshit crazy within so little time?

"Let's sneak to the Cornucopia, and sneak away. It's our best bet for survival," Charlotte whispered.

I nodded in agreement, and we silently sprinted to the Cornucopia. We made it there without them seeing us, and we both dug around for supplies. After a few minutes, the laughter turned to a haunting song, and I shuddered in revulsion. Any second one of them could see us. I felt something hit the back of my head, and I grabbed it. It was a pair of gloves. I gave Charlotte a weird look, but I quickly slipped them on.

I noticed what they were, and smiled at Charlotte. Each glove had spikes were the knuckles were, making them an effective weapon. I slipped on the two backpacks I had filled with stuff, and noticed Charlotte had two backpacks as well, two knives, and two coils of rope.

I was about to give her another confused look, but decided against it. We needed to get out of here _now_!

We began to sneak away, and as we walked away the singing got even louder. Once we made it to the exit, I couldn't help but look back. I saw Lucian draw out his knife, and I wanted to shout out to Sage. However, I kept my mouth shut, and saw him implant it in her throat. She fell to the ground with a smile on her face. I was fascinated, and I saw him continue to rip the knife through her neck. He finally detached the head, and began to swing it around by the feathers.

Charlotte pulled on my arm, and I was brought back to reality. We raced down the tunnels, away from the crazy psychopath. We ran and ran, and then ran some more. I could feel us nearing the exit. That was, until we ran into the two people I wanted to see the least.

"Give us the supplies, and you can leave," Leith hissed.

Leith held his fists us, and Oceana looked ready to fight as well. I glanced over at Charlotte, and she just rolled her eyes. Yes, they were Careers, but we had weapons. They didn't. We were going to win, hands down.

"I think we'll take our chances fighting you two." I said with a coy sneer across my face.

Leith let out a roar of disapproval, and sped towards us. Oceana, being the faster of the two, soon was in front of him. I readied my fists for a fight, but Charlotte beat me to it. I glanced over at her, saw she had made a noose out of the rope, and she was swinging it quickly in front of her chest. Charlotte sent the lasso flying at Oceana. It wrapped itself around her wrist, and Charlotte quickly pulled as hard as she could on it. It tightened at lightning speed, and brought a shocked Oceana to the ground. Charlotte yanked Oceana towards her, and held a knife against her throat.

Leith let out another roar, and flew towards Charlotte. I brought my fist back, and smashed it into Leith's chest. I could feel the spikes sink into the flesh, and he was slammed straight into the ground.

"Leith!" Oceana cried out.

Charlotte swiftly cut the small noose around Oceana's wrist, and grabbed my arm. We sprinted away from the scene, and I saw Oceana shakily holding Leith's head. It wasn't a death wound, but it certainly would keep him busy for the next day or so.

I let out a laugh when we made it to the stairwell. It was dark, and dreary, but it was our escape. I took the first step upwards, and then I heard three cannons ring out, one after another.

Three people dead. One of the smallest bloodbaths ever.

Still, I shivered with fear. Maybe it was just me, but I realized something. The Gamemakers wanted a small bloodbath. This arena had twelve floors of horrors. The _real_ bloodbath was this underground building. This part of the arena was supposed to weed out the weak from the strong with its elaborate traps and mutts. Once we got to the surface, the area that was unknown according to the map, was when the _real_ bloodbath was over. It was absolutely _blood chilling_ to think that the arena above the ground could get even worse than this death trap…

**And the bloodbath is over. Let me explain a few things about this arena. There is a surface area, and there are twelve underground levels. To make sure tributes keep going upwards, if they are on a floor that is smaller than the current day (Ex. They are on floor Six when Day Seven starts) then they die. However, if they are on a floor during that day (Ex. They are on floor six when it is Day Six) a special item appears somewhere on the floor, but the mutts and traps increase. So pretty much your tributes have the choice of hurrying to the surface as soon as possible, or waiting for the special items. **

**Now, I know, a bloodbath of three is stupid, but I think it made sense given the labyrinth. Plus, I've already explained the Gamemaker's cough mine cough intention of the twelve floors before the surface :D. if you're tribute wasn't mentioned, don't worry they are still alive. They are not bleeding out on the floor about to die XD that would just be cruel to you XD. However, a good chunk of tributes have no supplies, but thank god for sponsors right :D**

**So here is the deal. If you have reviewed for every STORY chapter, then you can PM me and sponsor one item to one tribute. No, you can't go back and do it now. If you think you have reviewed for every story chapter, check, and then Pm me and then I'll check. No, I am not going to check for you because, frankly, I am doing this to reward my faithful reviewers and I could care less about who gets sponsored. Yes, tributes will be sponsored later, and those will be my decisions, but right now I'm being nice and giving faithful reviewers some control. Also, if you didn't review a chapter because you were late, but reviewed for it in a later chapter along with the current chapter (such as reviewing for two chapters in one review) that is acceptable as well. **

**So, yes. Are you surprised at who died? Surprised at the number? Surprised how I killed people X. Answer those questions, along with what you think of my lovely death trap arena :D Oh, and the usual stuff as well :D**

**Ayla: You were, literally, one of my favorite tributes. No joke, I was so excited to develop you into a character, and put you in at least the final eight. However, you're creator didn't review ONCE, and I just had to kill you. It wasn't fair to other readers. So yes, fangalicious, if you're still reading I'm sorry but I assumed you never read this story to begin with.**

**Sage: What can I say, I just had to make the nicest person in the arena go crazy from guilt and fear. It was quite fun, I have to admit. I really did love you, but I had this dramatic death planned, and you fit best into it… I'm sorry DG.**

**Devon- Bowser, I loved Devon. I loved him a lot, but it was his time to go. I really don't know what else to tell you besides that I just thought the best thing I could do for him was give him a remember able bloodbath death. I promise, it will be important in several characterizations later, but I doubt that comforts you…**

**So please review and tell me what you think! I tried to be creative, and I hope I was realistic. **


	27. Day One: Part One: Weak

**Day One: Weak**

**Part One:**

**District One:**

**Stark's POV:**

Three cannons rang out, signaling the bloodbath was over. I let out a heavy sigh, and stood up. When the bloodbath started, I simply ran into a dead end and sat down. I knew that if I ran into anyone in the bloodbath, I would be expected to kill them. If I ran into a Career, they would drag me along with them until they found someone and then I'd have to watch them kill someone.

Either way, it wasn't my cup of tea.

Yes, I've been around death my entire life. I've even caused a lot of the death around me. That doesn't mean I enjoyed it. That doesn't mean that I wanted to do it. I did it because that was what was expected of me. However, in the arena, nothing was expected from me. The only thing that I was supposed to do was survive.

I began to make my way through the maze. It really wasn't overly difficult to figure out. It seemed to have a weird pattern about it, but that could have just been me overanalyzing the maze. After five more minutes, I emerged into the center of the maze.

"And where in Panem's name have you been!" Cami erupted once she saw me come into view.

I opened and closed my mouth several times because of how utterly shocked I was.

It looked like all hell had broken loose.

Emerging from the other entrance, I saw Oceana helping an injured Leith into the room. I saw a fairly large bloody spot on his chest, and it was dripping down his black jumpsuit. Apollo was at Asita's side, clutching his bruised nose. Both Asita and Jordana had a vacant expression in their eyes, which told me they both saw something horrifying. Camilla had blood splattered all over her clothing and hair, while Lucian was completely _drenched_ in blood. The floor around the Cornucopia was slick with someone's blood, but the thing that almost made me vomit was the head of Sage Hathaway that was swinging by Lucian's side. He had decapitated her, and then tied her hair around his belt. Her eyes were staring right at me as her skull swung back and forth just like a pendulum.

"I…I…" I stuttered out.

"Oh never mind! We have far more important things to worry about!" Cami groaned as she paced back and forth.

"Such as?" I questioned.

She spun around and sent me her best death glare. "Oh, I don't know, Stark. Let's count the reasons why we should be worried! We aren't going to have a base, which means we have to carry all our supplies _for the rest of the games_ with us. Oh, and that stupid bitch Ruth most likely has the map that was _rightfully_ ours! And we can't forget that only three people died in this bloodbath! I expected at least ten before I knew the arena, but I thought even with this stupid maze that most of us could kill at least one tribute. No cigar, though, because the only ones of us who actually killed some was Jordana, Lucian, and me!"

"Storming about like a mad man won't help any of us," I commented.

Cami rolled her eyes, and stared at the blood on the floor.

"Are we really going to let him keep her head?" Jordana complained, "It's giving me the creeps."

Lucian growled, "This is my _prize_. This is what I got from my kill, and I'm going to display it proudly like any respectable hunter!"

"Will you shut up, and try to act normal for about five minutes!" Leith shouted out as Oceana tended to his wound.

"You really aren't in any position to be talking!" Lucian barked as he slowly advanced towards Leith, knife ready.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Oceana hissed. She stood up, and sent Lucian a glare that rivaled any one of Cami's death glares.

"Going to try and stop me, weakling?" Lucian taunted.

"If she doesn't, I will!" Jordana howled.

"Everyone needs _to shut up and calm dow_n!" Apollo roared.

His words echoed off into the distance, and an unnatural silence settled between the Careers. Lucian put away his knife, and sat down. Everyone went back to staring off into the distance.

After several minutes, Apollo spoke calmly, "Now that everyone is calm, let's use some logic here. There are plenty of supplies and weapons within the Cornucopia. Why don't we have different people carry different things? Each of us carry our own weapons, and then two backpacks filled with a certain type of item. If we ration our food and water, we should be able to make it at least a week or so on what we are carrying. Also, remember the special items we get on each floor corresponding to its day? Well, sometimes it very well might be food and water. Right now, we just need to organize everything quickly, and efficiently. After that, then we can try and come up with a decent plan."

Everyone listened to Apollo's words carefully, and either quietly or silently agreed. Cami walked over to the Cornucopia, and began to dump contents out of backpacks and sort them into different categories. All of us pitched in, and we soon had fairly large piles. Pretty much our piles were organized by water, food, survival supplies, first aid kits, weapons, and 'special' items. The special item's pile was the smallest, but it was the pile where we either couldn't figure out what the item was, or it just didn't fit into any of the other categories.

First, we grabbed our personal weapons. Cami equipped herself with two spears, two swords, and a fairly large mace. I grabbed the only throwing knives left, which added up to thirteen. Jordana grabbed two throwing axes, and one melee axe. Apollo simply grabbed a small sword and a couple of knives, while Asita picked up three daggers. Leith found a spear, and a chain, and tied the chain around the spear so that it was a makeshift harpoon. I remembered that Oceana was good with a trident, but as usual, there were no tridents in the Cornucopia. She settled for a spear, and fairly lightweight lance.

And then there was Lucian.

Cami, being the _absolutely brilliant_ leader, decided it was a good idea to have the craziest tribute in these games carry, not only his weapons, but all of our spares. Lucian was decked out with spears, swords, knives, axes, whips, and any other weapon you could imagine.

We finally managed to sort out the backpacks, and found that Apollo did have a great idea. Each of us, except Lucian, was given two backpacks, one filled with water and the other filed with food. Then Jordana, Apollo, and Leith were each given an extra backpack. Leith's was filled with medical supplies, while Jordana's and Apollo's were filled with survival supplies.

While they continued to make sure everything was sorted out, I quickly scanned the special items pile. The only thing I recognized in it was a small box of gunpowder. I quickly pocketed it, and tried to see if I recognized anything else. There were several cans with nozzles on them, which meant they sprayed _something_.

The rest of the items seemed fairly useless, such as the sheets of plastic or scraps of cloth.

"Now it's time to come up with a plan," Apollo started.

"We, frankly, have two options," Oceana piped up, "We can either hunt down tributes on each floor that we are on, and wait around for the special item of the day to appear…"

"Or?" Cami interrupted rudely.

"Or," Oceana continued, "We can go ahead and try to make it to the highest floors. That way, we can wait for tributes to come up to us, and set up ambushes."

Lucian let a small guffaw escape his lips, "Now that's a plan worth thinking about!"

"You know what," Cami started, "I have way we can combine those plans into one. I say we wait around on each floor looking for the special items. I also know Ruth, and she won't bypass getting an item that will help her later in the game. The second we find her and kill her, we'll have the map. That's when we should sprint ahead and get to the higher floors because then we'll have a map that will show us which hallways and rooms are best to booby-trap!"

I had to admit, even though Cami was a temperamental, pigheaded girl at times, she had surprisingly good logic.

"I love the plan, except for one variable," I murmured, "Can you guarantee that Ruth won't sprint ahead to the top of this arena now that she has a map to guide her?"

Cami smirked ever so slightly, "An hour or two ago I couldn't have. Now, yes I can. If she her precious allies, she would listen to them and they would go to the top where it is safest. However, tonight when she finds out two out of three of her allies are dead, she'll completely lose it. Especially since the one alive was the one she didn't seem very close to. She'll stalk the hallways looking for us because I know for a fact she'll assume we killed them. Well, we _did_ kill them, but it's still just an assumption. She's going to want revenge, and _that_ will be her downfall."

"You've obviously studied her quite a bit," I commented.

"Let's just say I've wanted Ruth dead more than Ayla, and Asita here can support me when I say my 'dealings' with Ayla were a bit to the extreme and a bit inhumane."

I glanced over at Asita, and saw a slight tremor go through her body. Apollo's arms tightened around her, and I could see Jordana's posture tense up as well.

And the love triangle lived on.

This was going to be a long couple of weeks…

**District Eight:**

**Lyric's POV:**

"We are so _screwed_!" Ace whined

I just shook my head, and slid down against the white wall. So far, we had been aimlessly wandering the second floor looking for the staircase that would take us up to the next one.

Yeah, we haven't gotten very far…

"Plus, how is the floor useful to us in any way!" Ace continued.

There she had a point. The second floor, from what we had seen so far, was designed to be a torture chamber. There were devices in a few of these rooms I wouldn't even put an animal in, let alone a human! I tried to think of why an underground lab would need a torture chamber, but no good reasons came to mind. Perhaps it was just the Gamemaker's trying to mess with our minds.

It was working.

You see, none of these torture devices could be used for weapons. Sure, if I could actually pin someone down to the ground I could use one of these things to slowly kill them, but I wasn't that strong. There were only two or three people I could think of that I had more strength than. The odds weren't in my favor.

"Look, look at this!" Ace shouted, pointing at a random object, "Can we use that to find food? No! Can we use if _for_ food? No! This floor is completely pointless! Watch, we are going to die here! The Careers are going to find us, and use one of these things against us! Oh, and to make things worse, we have no weapons to fight back with! I knew I should have tried to find the Cornucopia!"

"Well, you didn't, so stop complaining about it," I snapped uncharacteristically at her.

"I don't see you being Mr. Upbeat and Positive either," Ace sneered at me.

I stood up, and glared at her, "I'm just as depressed, pessimistic, and scared as you are! However, unlike you, I actually have a big enough brain to comprehend that complaining about it won't help our situation, but actually make it worse! Who wants to sponsor a whiney little baby, and any person could have heard you from across the arena with the way you were ranting and raving!"

"Excuse me," Ace whispered, "Did you just call me a whiney little baby?"

"Yeah, I did," I groaned, "Both of us are the underdogs! Both of us got extremely low training scores! Right now, we need to be positive; otherwise we'll be dead within the next few days."

"Shows how much you know," Ace chortled.

"I know being 'positive' sounds stupid. I know it sounds like it won't do anything, bu-"

"I wasn't talking about positivity," Ace interrupted, "I was talking about the fact that you thought I was an underdog."

Before I could even utter a word, Ace leapt across the small space between us and kneed me right in the stomach. I exhaled all my breath inadvertently and fell to my knees. She grabbed me by my hair, and forced me to look into her eyes.

"I'm not weak. Don't you _ever_ say that I'm an 'underdog' again. In fact, how about you never talk to me again!"

Ace leapt up, and spun around.

"Where are you going!" I yelled after her.

"Away from you. Have a nice life, or what's left of it!"

My mouth practically hit the ground. What… what just happened? Its day one and I just lost my one and only ally!

I tried to remember the annoying, yet kind, girl I had known the past few days. That girl I just saw wasn't her… or was it? Was the ditzy, clumsy, kind girl all just an act? Did she get a bad training score on purpose? Did the Capitol pick her as a replacement because she was weak or because she was actually dangerous?

I shakily lifted myself back onto my feet. A big part of me wanted to give up right here and now. I wanted to just lie down, and wait for some tribute to find me and kill me. I wanted to just let the inevitable happen.

Then I realized something. My death wasn't inevitable. Sure, I was probably the most unlikely tribute to win these games. Still, there have always been games where the underdog has won. The strong ones, or the ones pretending to be weak, aren't always the ones to win. Sometimes, luck is on the loser's side, and they become the winner. I picked up one of the whips hanging on the wall, and then one of the chains lying across the floor. I walked down the opposite hallway Ace went down. As long as I kept trying, I had a chance. I didn't need Ace, or anyone, to win these games. All I needed was a strong will, and a bit of luck.

**District Six: **

**Lucy's POV:**

"I hope Winnifred's okay…" Jacqie murmured next to me.

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. Personally, I wouldn't care if one of those cannon sounds had been for her. All Winnifred was to me was an annoying leech who was just another obstacle in my current mission. Good news is I wouldn't have to worry about Jacqie much longer. Lavender had contacted during the bloodbath, and told me I was to complete my mission as soon as possible. Apparently, Lavender wanted to set off a spark that would keep the Capitol going for awhile instead of trying to contain it for the grand finale.

It was fine by me. It meant less work.

"You know she'll come bounding around one of these corners any minute," I smiled.

Then the irony of life hit me because, wouldn't you know it, as soon as we turned the corner, we saw Winnifred leaning against a wall.

"Freddie!" Jacqie shouted out. Winnifred waved quickly, but continued her task intensely. We walked over to her, and I peered around Jacqie to see what Winnifred was doing. She had quite a large amount of supplies, and was obviously making a mental list of what she had.

"Here you go," she said almost emotionlessly as she tossed an axe at Jacqie and a dagger at me. Even I took a minute to admire the craftsmanship of the dagger. It was jagged, yet extremely elegant looking. It was ebony black, and reminded me of sacrificial daggers people used back in ancient times. Perhaps it was a reminder from Lavender of my task ahead. Perhaps I was reading too far into things. Either way, my mind began to wander off.

Until I noticed the golden bow and golden arrows in Winnifred's lap.

"You really should find a weapon you're better at, Winnifred," I commented as I continued to play with my new toy. I moved it from one side to another watching as the light reflected off of its dark surface.

"I don't think there is one," she murmured.

"Shame. You do know that weapon was intended for Bird Girl. Poor dear is probably furious now that she doesn't have her ideal weapon. It puts a fairly large target on your back…"

"Stop worrying, Lucy. We're all going to be fine now that we're together." Jacqie commented.

Oh, she took my judgmental bitch side as caring. How cute.

"All right, I'll keep my mouth shut," I sighed overdramatically.

I glanced at the three backpacks, and noticed Winnifred probably picked some of the worst ones. Each of them was fairly small, and didn't have much of anything. When you combined what we had from each backpack, we ended up with an empty canteen, one liter of water, some dried jerky and fruit, a bottle of pills that were probably useless, three knives, and two extra jackets.

Way to pull through, Winnifred.

You see, I would have gone into the Bloodbath and gotten some items, but Lavender thought it would be too dangerous. In fact, she was so overprotective of me that she threw up walls between me and various tributes to ensure a fight wouldn't ensue. The only tribute I was personally worried about at the time was Jordana. She was charging at me just like a bull.

We also decided Jacqie shouldn't dive into the Bloodbath because of our dear friend Lucian, who would probably cut off his own arm and beat her to death with it if that was the only way she could die. I swear, why was I sent in the year that we had so many mentally unstable people?

"So, what's the plan?" Jacqie asked calmly.

"I say we stay on this floor and wait for the 'special' item to appear. From what we got here, we are going to need it."

"I thought we should get to the top as fast as we could…" Winnifred murmured.

"Well, you thought wrong," I sneered at her.

"Lucy!" Jacqie reprimanded.

"I'm sorry. I guess it's finally hitting me that we're in the arena…" I said with as much sadness as I could muster. Frankly, I could care less right now how I treated Winnifred. I wouldn't have to deal with either of them soon… or, I at least hoped it would be soon. For all I knew, it could take several days before my plan went into effect. It all depended on everyone else. I hated not being in control…

"It couldn't hurt to stay on this floor an extra day. We can always go up, Freddie, but it will be almost impossible to come back down," Jacqie reasoned.

"I guess…" Winnifred muttered as she sorted things equally into each backpack.

I wanted to laugh at them. I wanted to laugh at how easily they are fooled. I wanted to laugh at how obviously _weak_ they were. Then it struck me that, in some ways, I was just as weak as they were. I had emotions, just like they did. I made mistakes, just like they did. Sure, I might have the entire team of Gamemakers on my side, and an extremely high IQ, but I still had one weakness that rose above all of theirs. They had a chance of winning these games.

I had absolutely none because all I was to the Capitol was a puppet.

A tool to be used, and then thrown away.

**District Five:**

**Admyer's POV:**

"Ready to go?" I heard Cami yell.

A chorus of agreement followed, and I heard them begin to migrate away. I continued to listen to them babble until it sounded as quiet as a small stream bubbling. I stood up as quickly and quietly as I could, and sprinted around five corners until I was at the Cornucopia.

I glanced around. Part of me was shocked no one had the same idea I had. Obviously, the Careers couldn't set up camp, and would have to leave the Cornucopia. That meant they would have to leave a boatload of supplies behind, just ready for a scavenger like me to pick through! Granted, all the supplies left were some of the most useless and unwanted ones, but there was bound to be some good ones left behind!

I noticed the Careers had put their supplies into organized piles. I began to move closer to them, but instinctively stopped. I ran through the list of Careers, trying to remember if any of them had any skills with traps or poison. I knew for a fact both tributes from District Four and Two had no experience in those areas, as well as Asita. Still, Lucian, Cami, or Stark could have been hiding a skill such as traps or poison just for this reason.

I quickly took off my long coat, and tossed it towards the supplies. Next I used my shoes, and nothing happened. No weight triggered system. I decided to chance it, and sprinted over to the supplies. Again, nothing happened. I quickly put my boots back on, along with my jacket, and started to sort through the supplies. The only weapons they had left behind were the extremely large, heavy ones. Lances, double sided swords, and extremely large battle axes were all that was left. I knew I couldn't use any of those, and moved on to the survival supplies. There was one tent left, but I decided not to use it. It was black and would stick out like a sore thumb in these bright white hallways and rooms. I found about twenty feet of rope, and set that aside.

Everything else left in the survival area appeared to be fairly useless to me. The only two things that I found useful were flint and an empty backpack to put my supplies in. Right when I was about to leave, a huge smile spread across my face. I pushed aside a few boards of wood, and found a hammer. I picked it up, and just continued to grin. I worked at a butcher shop back home. Using a hammer wouldn't be too different then using a meat tenderizer… right?

I stuffed the rope and flint in the backpack, and hid the hammer inside my jacket. I quickly rifled through the food and water supplies. The Careers took almost all the food with them, but did leave some dried fruit and jerky. If I rationed it, it could last me at least three or four days. All of the water bottles and canteens were empty. I was expecting as much. If the Careers would have even left one bottle of water behind, I would have thought all of them were idiots. Water was the most valuable thing in the Hunger Games. Sure, swinging a sword around was great too, but could a sword save you from dehydration?

I stood up, feeling extremely accomplished. This was an extremely good idea, in my opinion. While I was just basking in my good decision for a second, I heard a low rumbling noise. I quickly looked around, expecting the worse. A muttation? A Career?

It suddenly got a great deal louder, and then stopped. I looked behind me, and saw a canister. It had a large 5 on it, and I glanced around. I crouched down, and just stared at it. There was a large silver button on top, and I pressed it. The canister split into two, and dropped a sponsor gift.

So that's how they were going to deliver them to us in here.

My eyes practically bulged out of their sockets when I saw a two liter bottle of water pop out. I greedily picked it up, and shoved it in my backpack. The man at the survival station said that one liter of water, if rationed, could last a tribute four days since we came in hydrated. That meant two liters of water could last me seven or eight days!

I glanced up at the ceiling, and mouthed thank you. Some person from the Capitol must have seen what I just did, and thought I was resourceful and smart. I had my first sponsor! It very well might be my last, but knowing someone out there believed I could win these games gave me a much needed confidence boost.

I stood up, and exited out the entrance I came in. I quickly found my way out of the maze and started my ascent up the stairs. I made it to the second floor easily enough, and almost threw up when I saw the torture device that took up the room I was in. I looked like a large black ball, but I could see where someone's body was placed. You most likely twisted the bolts on the side, and it would crush your upper body and lower body together until it broke nearly every bone in your body.

I dashed out of the room and into the hallway. I didn't exactly know what I was going to do. I could definitely use the special items, but I knew many people would be gunning for them. Did I really want to put that big of a target on my back? Memory would tell me to stick with my strategy. During my entire stay in the Capitol, I just stayed under the radar. I appeared weak, but not weak enough so that everyone knew me as that kid who was going to die in the bloodbath. Just weak enough so that I was average and not a threat to anyone. Memory would want me to stick with that strategy, and get to the surface as soon as possible.

But this is my game, and I have to play it how _I_ want to play it.

**Mentor:**

**District Twelve:**

**Ophelia's POV:**

"You certainly have a great competitor this year, Ophelia," Memory mentioned as she strolled over to my station in the Control Room.

I smiled at her. Memory sat down in the empty seat next to me, and rubbed my back soothingly. Even before she joined my little rebellion, she and I were steadfast friends. I mean, yes, I am thirty years or so older than her, but we just had that instant connection. Plus, both of us are extremely devoted to our tributes every year. Memory may try to pretend she doesn't care very much when they are here in the Capitol, but she is one of the few mentors who don't leave the Control Room until either one of their tributes has won or they are both dead.

"I'm sorry about Devon," Memory stated.

"It's fine… He was Cody's tribute anyways," I lied.

"He technically was Cody's tribute. Doesn't mean you treated Devon any differently than how you treat Ruth."

I felt tears beginning to well up, but swiftly blinked them away. "Speaking of tributes, you seem to have two genius tributes this year."

"You could say that," Memory smiled, "Winnifred is very good when it comes to figuring things out that are logical. Puzzles and such. Admyer, however, has the street smarts. He seems to be able to come up with plans within seconds if he has to. That, and he is very good at deceiving people."

"Obviously, and the Capitol has noticed. It was almost comical how the phones started ringing when he snuck into the Cornucopia area once the Careers had left."

"Ruth isn't doing so bad sponsor wise either," Memory commented.

"True, but I'm worried about what's going to happen once she finds out Devon is dead. She's been friends with him for years. I'm still trying to figure out whether she'll go on a killing rampage, or if she'll shove it all down inside and stop showing emotion. Those two options seem most like Ruth to me." I sighed.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll kill herself," I heard a nasally voice ring out.

I kept my mouth shut, and put my hand on Memory's knee to signal for her to stay quiet as well. I glanced over at Lorie, one of the District Nine mentors. Her dyed platinum blonde hair was styled perfectly, and she was filing her nails nonchalantly. Lorie was just looking for a fight, that's all.

She won her games while I was mentoring, and I remember how stupid she seemed. I mean, this was only ten or so years ago, and I had been mentoring for a long time. I usually see through the 'acts' the tributes put up, but Lorie really had all of us fooled. She put her own special twist on Johanna Mason's technique. Her background prior to the games was that she was the daughter of a rich merchant. She always got what she wanted with just the snap of her fingers, and everyone in her district knew her as a rich spoiled brat. She was always wearing new clothes, and constantly partying. When she was reaped, the first thing she did was ask the escort about her outfit.

During her entire stay in the Capitol, she acted like a stupid, fashionable, pretty girl. Every time I saw her, in public and in private, she was wearing some sparkly outfit and was flouncing about. In training, I heard she spent all of her time trying to make allies, but all of them left her because all she was able to talk about was clothes, shoes, partying, ect. She even got a training score of four.

During the bloodbath, she sprinted in, grabbed a backpack and a jacket, and continued to sprint in the direction she was running. No one aimed for her. The only thing that made her a target was that she had some sponsors because the Capitol found her charming in the 'you're cute and entertaining, but ultimately going to die' way.

The arena was an abandoned, high tech city. All I remember is the very first night, the cameras showed me a shot of her, and I saw her filing her nails with a knife. I saw the jacket she was wearing, which was a long raincoat, and realized it was meant for the District Four girl who was amazing with throwing knives. The reason I realized this was because Lorie opened the jacket up and the inside was lined with different knives for both throwing and fighting.

The first eight days, she stayed under the radar. She was constantly moving, going from building to building, room to room. She did, however, kill the girl from District Eight on Day Five and took her supplies. Between the valuable backpack she snagged during the bloodbath and the good amount of supplies she snatched from the dead girl, Lorie could have survived until day ten or eleven on those alone.

However, the Capitol was getting bored. When day nine started, eleven tributes were alive. By the end, only six had survived. The Gamemakers set all the buildings on fire, and created a gigantic earthquake. Two tributes were trapped and killed by the fire, and two were crushed by falling debris. The fifth one was killed by Lorie herself. Her District Partner was holding on to a ledge about ready to fall off. He begged her to help him, and she just laughed.

She told him it was a game, and that she had to win no matter what. Then, in some twisted way, she did stop him from falling. She rammed one of her knives through his hand. She then left the crumbling building with her District Partner stuck on it. Suffice to say, he was crushed by the building, but Lorie was awarded the kill since she trapped him there.

The six remaining tributes were forced into the underground sewers. It was narrowed down to the boy from District One, both from District Four, Lorie, the girl from District Eleven, and Joseph, the male tribute from my District.

The girl and boy from District Four killed the boy from District One and decided to stay together until the final two. Joseph and the girl from Eleven ended up making an alliance together on day eleven. By day thirteen, they sent the mutts out. The Careers killed all the mutts sent after them, but other mutts chased Lorie, Joseph, and his partner into the same room.

By then, the remaining tributes figured out Lorie wasn't dumb. No one who was stupid ended up making it to the final five. They offered Lorie a spot in their alliance saying that the three of them could take down the Careers. Lorie took the offer, and they set off in search for the Careers. A half hour after she joined their alliance, she threw two knives, and each one of them imbedded themselves into her 'allies' skulls. She shoved them into the sewage river, and continued walking.

The memory of her throwing that knife at Joseph still haunts me, but what I remember even more was when his face lit up the night sky. Lorie didn't even blink. She didn't even look guilty. The Careers were completely shocked that the girl they had made fun of since the Reapings was their only competition left. There was another day without fighting, and then, on day fifteen, it all ended.

Lorie hid herself in one of the sewage grates. The Careers walked into the hallway she was hidden in. When they passed her hiding place, she knocked out the sewage grate and sent two knives flying at the Careers. She wasn't nearly as close as she had been to Joseph and his ally, so she didn't end up hitting her mark. She missed the girl from District Four entirely, and the knife sliced the boy's ear off, but it didn't kill him.

After that, it was a game of cat and mouse. Lorie would run away, hide, and then pop out and attack. She did end up killing the boy from District Four, but she never harmed the girl very much. They ended up in a large cavern. Lorie had five knives left, and the girl had six. They threw them at each other. Four of Lorie's knives missed, but one did end up hitting the Career in the neck. The Career hit Lorie in the chest with four, barely missing the heart, and in the collarbone with one. Lorie would have died within minutes, but she leapt at the girl. She used her height to her advantage, and forced the Career to the ground under her. In a desperate rage, she clawed the girl to death. She used her nails to dig and claw until there was such a large divot in the girl's face that you could see her teeth. The wound to the face and neck ended up being too much, and the Career died before Lorie bled out.

Lorie won her games, and came back. She still is a fashionable, pretty girl, but she doesn't act stupid anymore. Everyone knows she is brilliant in her own rights, and a great actress. However, she is one of the cruelest people I have ever met. I'm surprised she and the President aren't related.

"At least people actually like her tribute," Rouge hissed from across the Control Room.

"Shut up. You're new here, so I'll cut you some slack just this once. No one wants to be on my bad side," Lorie growled.

"That implies that you have a good side, which you clearly don't," Rouge quipped.

I couldn't help but laugh at that comment. Lorie sent me a dirty look, but turned back to her station without a word. I glanced at Rouge and grinned at her. Perhaps I just found my next member of the rebellion. When you mixed that quick wit with her acting abilities and looks, you had a good diplomat. If I could get her on my side, then _she_ could get so many more people on our side. In many ways, she was like Lorie. The only difference is Rouge actually had a heart hidden beneath her fake persona. Oh yes, the next couple steps just became clear for the rebellion…

**Okay, so I know I haven't updated on a month. In fact, I haven't been on fan fiction for a month. Pretty much, I've had a very busy month. I was in Seattle for a week for a competition, then there was a week where I had two tests every day, and something very bad is going on in a very close friend's of mine life so I've been spending a lot of time mourning with them and trying to help them. Oh, and then this week has been my first week so really relax because it was spring break, so yeah instead of writing I read an 800 page book and hung out with friends and relaxed. So, yes, I'm extremely sorry it took so long for this update, but that means you'll all be ready to read and review ;D**

**Aside from that, I will be spending all day pretty much reading all the updates I've missed (yeah it's like 50 or something insane like that) so if you're reading this I will either be reviewing your updates today or tomorrow. Also, for the sponsor people, your gifts will be sent to your tributes either next chapter or sometime on Day Two or Three. **

**So yes, don't forget to review, and I'm sorry this is shorter than usual. It was either post this today, or post it tomorrow with another POV because I am all written out (yes I wrote all of this today)**


	28. Day One: Part Two: Memories

**Day One: Memories:**

**Part Two:**

**District Three:**

**Valhalla's POV:**

"It's as if they made this floor for me," I laughed out loud.

In all reality, it wasn't that hard to find my way to the third floor. In fact, the staircase I used was only hidden behind a small rack of devices. There was no puzzle, no challenge. All I had to do was look into the room for about five seconds when I saw a rather large space between the rack and the wall. I guess they made it easy because it was only the second floor. They didn't want very many tributes to die simply because they couldn't figure out a way upwards.

When I first made it to this floor, I thought nothing of it. More stark white hallways and rooms. However, I began to look inside several rooms, and found that this entire floor seemed to be stocked with bits and pieces of machinery. Some rooms had parts for building random objects, but when I scavenged around a bit, I found some parts that could help me create an electrical system of some kind. It would make for a deathly trap.

When I added my new found parts with the supplies I snagged at the bloodbath, I knew that I was going to win these games. Well, I knew I was going to win them before, but I certainly didn't imagine it would be this easy!

During the bloodbath, I grabbed plenty of wire and rope for traps, along with three knives and two backpacks I filled with food and water. However, near the very back of the Cornucopia, I spotted a black case. Curiosity got the better of me, and I quickly took a peek inside.

It was the best decision I could have made.

Inside the black case was a series of vials, bottles, and cans. I quickly realized this was an alchemy kit. They hadn't put one in the Cornucopia since the 222nd Hunger Games, which is what made me believe that they wouldn't put one in these games as well. Anyways, it comes with a stock of chemicals, and it has the tools to make certain medicines and poisons. Some of the chemicals were flammable, and others extremely reactive. They would be perfect for traps! Although I didn't know much about making poisons, I did remember some poisonous substances from certain books, and if I could find them in the arena I might be able to figure out a way to make at least a weak poison. Possibly even a paralytic kind!

So now I was simply sitting in one of rooms, fiddling with a few magnets, some copper wire I found, and some trip wire from the bloodbath. Although I was a brilliant tribute when it came to traps, I wasn't a complete genius when it came to electricity. Sure, once I figured out how to conduct it I could mold it to my desire. The problem was the 'conducting' part. I had people figured out to a tee. I knew what they would do in certain situations, and I knew how to make them fall right into my traps. Things like electricity, poison, and even chemicals were not that simple. They didn't have any exceptions like people did. There was always certain ways to get it to work, but if you didn't know how to do it then you were in trouble. If a plan didn't work on a person, which mine always did, then you could simply reanalyze the person, note your mistakes, and create a new, creative way to effectively deal with them.

I don't understand why everyone find people so complicated. Sure, all humans had their flaws and personalities. However, all humans also had emotions, mainly fear, that you could play off of. If someone was afraid of something, all humanity leaves them for a time being. They resort to their primal instincts, and make stupid mistakes. It was actually quite entertaining to see people squirm. To crush their spirit, and watch as they change from a weak human into an even weaker organism. Watch as everything you had observed about them disappears, and all that is left is an animal. Rouse the fear in them, and even make them angry. Corner them and make them feel as if there is no hope. Finally, right before the kill, you give them a small, glittering beam of hope, and take it away in one fatal swoop.

That's what I long to do. I have no taste for causing them physical pain. I have no desire to watch them bleed to death. My only desire is to control their minds. Make them feel what _I want them to feel!_ Know that, for once in my life, I'm in control and there is nothing they can do about it. Crush their entire being into dust, until nothing is left but an empty corpse.

And I might get my chance right now!

I slowly get to my feet, hide my supplies under one of the tables, and grab onto one of my knives. I walk to the door calmly, and quietly open it.

I heard something… I just _knew_ it!

I sprint to one end of the hallway, and peer around the corner. I sprint farther down the next hallway until I come to a room with a door slightly ajar. I peek inside and almost squeal with glee when I see him bent over a pile of computer chips. I see him sorting through them, one by one, obviously looking for a certain kind.

I tip toe in, and shut the door behind me.

"So you made it past the bloodbath after all!" I laugh loudly.

He drops one of the chips, and practically falls over from surprise. There was no reason for me to try and sneak up on him. Even I can take down this pile of waste.

"Of course I did," Thomas whispers.

I slowly advance towards him, twirling my knife to and fro.

"You wouldn't kill your District Partner. District Three would hate you!" He stammers out.

"That's the funny thing," I giggle, "I don't really care what District Three thinks about me. Does a preying mantis care what a colony of ants think of him?"

"Think about your mother! Your father! How do you think they will feel? How do you think their friends and neighbors will treat them?"

"Oh, now you're just scrambling," I taunted, "Frankly, my father is probably back home cheering me on. My mother might feel a little bad about what's about to happen, but she knows logically it has to happen. Only one of us gets to come home, and that's going to be me."

I strolled casually over to a table, and perched myself on top of it. The table was close enough to the door so that I knew my target wouldn't be able to escape.

"I really think I'm doing you a favor," I stated as I looked at my reflection on the blade of the knife, "Would you rather a big, bad Career tear you to pieces? Or perhaps you'd rather starve to death. Maybe even die of dehydration if you're lucky! Oh, oh, I know what you'd really love! There's always one person who gets ripped to pieces by a muttation. Perhaps that's your ideal end to this game. No matter what you choose, you're going to die sooner or later. Might as well make it sooner rather than later."

"You don't get to choose that," Thomas stammered out.

"Oh, how pathetic. The weakling trying to act big and strong. What are you going to do? Kill _me_?"

"I don't need to kill you to live," he hissed. Before I could say anything else, he grabbed a large chunk of metal and threw it at me. I ducked out of the way, and hopped off the table. He began sprinting towards the door, but I quickly intercepted him. I kicked him as hard as I could in the stomach, and he stumbled backwards. I stabbed my knife into his upper left arm, and used the momentum and his pain to force him to the ground. I placed my knees on his shoulders, and held his wrists above his head.

"You know, if you stop struggling, I can make this painless. Well, _physically_ painless."

He continued to thrash under me. He nearly bucked me off three times in thirty seconds, and I quickly realized this might not have been my best idea. I stored this information in my brain for later use. Never give up the element of surprise, no matter how weak you think the opponent is.

"Stop struggling! The more you struggle, the more painful it's going to be! Do you really want that girl to see you in this much pain?" I screamed.

He stopped fighting for a few seconds and whispered, "Lynette?"

"The one who was crying out to you at the reaping, 'Thomas! No!'" I yelled out in a very good imitation of her voice. Thomas' eyes got as round as dinner plates. "Imagine her yelling that at the television screen right now. She doesn't want you to fight. She doesn't want to see you in pain any longer."

I tried to say the rest of my statement in a soothing voice, but Thomas would have none of it. He continued to thrash about until I screamed out, "When I win, do you really want me to hunt her down and kill her myself!"

When Thomas heard that statement, all of his fighting stopped. With most tributes, that threat wouldn't have worked. Most of them would keep fighting in hopes of killing me, which would then make my threat invalid. However, Thomas didn't have that much confidence. He couldn't make himself believe in the lie that he had a chance. All he could do was accept the truth about his inevitable demise.

"There we go. Much better," I cooed. I slid my knife quickly and effortlessly across his throat. I saw a small line of blood appear across his bulging neck. It wasn't deep enough to kill, but that was the point. I knew when Thomas felt that knife touch his skin he was filled with absolute terror.

"And now's when the real fun begins," I sneer. I thought up several insults to start my torment with, but I ended up glaring right at his ice blue eyes. I felt myself slowly slipping away. My brain began to pick at several memories at once. The first memory shot through my skull as fast as lightening. A memory long forgotten.

_"Mommy" I whined, "I don't understand why Daddy can't come home anymore!"_

_My mother turned away from watching the rain throw itself against the window. Her normally neat, perfect blonde hair was in a disarray of strands. Her normally keen blue eyes were dull and glassy. _

_"It's because Mommy and Daddy are getting a divorce." My mother repeated._

_"But you won't tell me why! You and Daddy argue all the time, but you can always fix it! Why can't you fix it this time?" I cried out._

_"Some things are better left broken, Valhalla," she murmured. She placed her head back against the window. She was normally an intellectual, strong scientist, but all I saw was a wreck. Someone whose emotions were hurting them. Someone who was being held back._

_"No! You and Daddy have always told me that family comes first. That, no matter what, family is one of the most precious things in the world. That we share the same DNA and that can never be erased!"_

_"Well, you're father has been sharing his 'DNA' quite a bit," my mother cackled. I cocked my head to the side, and just watched as she laughed hysterically. Soon, her gales of laughter turned into sobs. She placed one hand over her face, and I watched as tears rolled down her face. _

_I quickly ran over to my mother, and wrapped my arms around her legs. She descended to the ground, and pushed her face into my black hair. All I did was hold her, and watch the rain roll down the window just like my mother's tears. I had no idea what happened between Mommy and Daddy, but Mommy was hurting. Mommy was hurting because of her grief. Mommy wasn't as strong as she liked to pretend to be. _

I snapped out of the memory, and stared down at Thomas. His blue eyes pierced through my soul because _they were almost the identical color as mine!_

Thomas' voice rang through my head as I remembered what he said last night.

_My father… Well, I don't know who he is. All I know is that he didn't tell my mother that he was… was… married, and they began a relationship. She found out, and left him. However, she didn't realize he was married until she was three months pregnant with me_

I threw myself off of him, and put my hand over my mouth. At the time, I didn't know what my mother meant when she said my father had been 'spreading his DNA'. What six year old would? What if…

Thomas jumped up and held his fists in a fighting stance; however his face showed complete and utter confusion.

"You're mother… Did she ever talk to the woman married to your father?" I asked.

Thomas looked at me as if I was crazy. "Yes… I was around five or six."

_Oh God no!_

"Did she tell you what happened to her?"

"No… I only found out a couple of years ago when I asked if my father was happy with his family. She said that he lost his family when I was six when she told the wife what her husband had done."

"We're both sixteen," I hyperventilated. Suddenly, all the emotions I had been suppressing for years came surging back. I felt, for the first time in a long time, tears stinging my eyes.

"What's your point?"

I blinked my eyes rapidly, and sheathed my knife.

"I just realized that… that… that we have more in common than I once thought," I lied, "I think we should be allies."

His eyes practically popped out of his sockets, "You stab me, taunt me, and almost kill me, and then you say you want to be _allies_!"

"I can still kill you if you want." I lied again.

He raised his hands. "Fine… I guess I'll be in your alliance…"

"Good. My supplies are this way. You obviously have none."

I spun around, and had to stop myself from running to the door. I was taught that no matter how much you hate your family, they're still your family. You never betray them, but only help them. If my memories, analyzing, and deductions were right, Thomas was my family. Thomas very well might be my half-brother, and that terrifies me to the very core.

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

"Oh crap,"

I whispered to myself as I dove behind one of the many torture devices. This one appeared to just be a large triangle, but I saw the chains and rope above it. I could tell you were supposed to tie someone to it, and then lower them onto and off of the triangle. I shuddered as I imagined where the point of the triangle entered, and how painful it would be.

The door thudded open, and I heard loud footsteps enter. The boy from District Thirteen saw me in one of the hallways and tried to sneak up on me. He wasn't very discreet and the second I saw him I ran away. I knew he was after the supplies a got during the bloodbath because he obviously had none. The supplies I managed to get my hands on before Lucian came to the Cornucopia were two knives, a backpack with a little bit of food and water, and a box of matches. It really was better than nothing, but I so wish Lucian hadn't come charging in only a minute after I had.

I didn't want to fight the boy from District Thirteen. However, I knew he was trained, and _not_ killing him could bite me on the butt later. I quickly decided that trying to fight him would not be a good idea even if it could affect me later in the games. I waited until I heard him on the other side of the room, and slowly slid into a standing position. I slinked across the floor towards the door, never taking my eyes off of him. The idiot didn't shut the door, which meant I didn't have to worry about making any noise by opening and shutting the door.

Once I was in the hallway, I ran as fast as I could away from the room the District Thirteen boy was in. The fact of the matter was that I should just go up to the surface as quickly as I could. However, I needed something special to help me win these games. I needed a little boost; otherwise I had next to no chance. Think about it. If I can't handle a Career by myself now, try imagining handling them when they have two or three special items to help them out.

Of course, people might not find the special item on every floor. It was going to be well guarded, and well hidden.

I let out a deep sigh, and quickly ducked into another room. I shut the door behind me, and walked to the left corner behind a metal table. I slumped to the floor, and set my supplies down next to me. I didn't know what I was doing anymore. During training, I stayed out of everyone's way, but because I did that I ended up not having any potential allies. I wasn't the most charming in my interviews, and the only thing that made me stand out in the slightest was my training score. Now I was in the arena, and I didn't have a strategy.

Sure, I was planning on getting some special items, but then what? Was I planning on killing tributes? Was I just going to hide as long as possible? There were so many different strategies I could choose, but only one would lead to victory. The others would eventually lead to my death. Heck, all of them could lead to my death.

I thought back to what my friends and family would say. My father would tell me to use the skills of thievery and stalk tributes while slowly stealing supplies from them. My mother would most likely tell me to find an ally as soon as possible. Both of my siblings would tell me to hide and wait out the games in solitude. Both of my best friends would want me to use my brain and do anything to survive.

So many people would tell me to do so many different things, and I didn't know who was right anymore. I specifically remember eavesdropping on Lorie and Pops talking. Lorie said that she and I had a lot of the same strengths, and if it wasn't for my personality I could pull off her strategy. She was right on that note. I don't think I'd be able to act a certain way and then kill off any tribute that walked my way. Pops got a huge alliance together, and he won his games because they were very loyal and all seven of them made it to the final twelve.

I put my head on my knees, and closed my eyes. I always had a plan. I was never the kind of person who just walked around without a purpose. Yet, that's what I find myself doing now. I was simply walking around, and the boy from Thirteen found me. Now I'm just sitting here without a plan and I most likely won't leave until tomorrow morning.

The one thing I do enjoy about this arena was the fact you could tell what time of day it was. As the day went on past the bloodbath, the lights above us got brighter. Now, they were slowly getting dimmer. Eventually, it would probably be almost pitch black. I doubt they would make it completely pitch black because then no one could do anything during the night.

I head the stomping of footsteps outside my door and automatically knew it was the Careers. Thankfully, the passed right by my room without even opening the door and taking a look around. Obviously they were looking for a good place to camp out for the night so that tomorrow they would have the best chance of finding the item first.

Once the footsteps disappeared, I heard a much quieter, fainter pair of footsteps coming closer. I quickly stood up and dashed to the door. I peeked through the small window near the top of the door, and saw Ace creep by. So, my loudmouth District Partner was following the Careers. I didn't really know she could do that, but it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not going to stop her because I personally don't want her as an ally. In fact, the only people who I think I might consider allying with would be Adam and Charlotte. They would be the only people I think I could trust to actually watch my back.

I raced back to my corner, and tried to feel invisible. By tomorrow morning I needed a plan. Otherwise, I had next to no hope getting out of here alive…

**District Ten:**

**Charlotte's POV:**

"I can't wait to get to the higher floors," I whispered to Adam.

Adam nodded swiftly, and we continued to watch the trio of girls as they set up camp for the night. Right now, they were in a large room that was supposed to be some sort of barracks. I guess it would be for the scientists or torturers who spent a good chunk of their time on this floor. Anyways, off to the side of the room was a door that led to a restroom with stalls that contained toilets and showers. Adam and I were in this room watching the girls. We would leave, but the only exit was to go through the barracks, and I didn't like the odds of us two against the three of them.

I quickly stepped back from the door and paced over towards the other end of the room. The reason I was anticipating the floors that were higher was because of the size. When the map was projected for those fifteen seconds, I saw that as each floor got higher, it also got wider. That meant that the higher we went, the less of a chance we would run into the Careers or other tributes.

After the bloodbath, Adam and I decided we were going to stick together for the time being. The main reason I didn't want to stay with him last time was because I assumed the arena would be outdoors, as usual. I mean, in the 223rd Games they were in an underground network of tunnels, but who knew they would do another underground arena so soon?

Anyways, I knew that as long as I was underground I would need Adam. Sure, I was pretty hand with a rope, but if a tribute got close to me I was as good as dead. If I had Adam with me, then he could help defend me and beat the crap out of any tribute that got too close. Having an ally in these close quarters was a very good thing. Hopefully, the hallways and rooms would get larger on other floors. Right now, Adam and I could walk side by side in these hallways, but we had to be shoulder to shoulder.

However, once we got to the surface, I was probably going to ditch him.

"We could try and take them out, you know," Adam commented as he walked towards me.

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes, "We would be so screwed. The Lucy got a six in training, and they all have weapons. Jacqie has a huge battle axe for crying out loud. Oh, and the girl from Five has a bow and arrows. They could take us down easily."

"You got an eight in training," he countered.

"That's only because they've probably never seen someone try and use rope as a weapon. The only reason I got a high training score was because I was unique, not because I had a ton of skill."

"All I'm saying is that they are obviously going to go for the special items as well. Even if we only took one of them out as we ran out of the room and into the hallway, it would help us immensely."

I simply shrugged, and continued pacing. In all honesty, I didn't like how Adam could just talk about 'taking someone out' as if it was no big deal. I get it; he is a determined, aggressive person who will do anything to get home. In the Hunger Games, that's a wonderful thing to be. Still, I just can't bring myself to think about killing someone. I mean, I know I'm going to have to do it eventually. In fact, I would kill one of the Careers in a heartbeat if I realistically could. When I look at those girls, though, I can't imagine me strangling them to death, or snapping their neck with my rope.

I heard a low rumbling at first that soon got louder. I then heard a small squeal, and raced to the door. I peeked inside, and saw Jacqie press a button on a large silver case. It opened, and she picked up what was inside. It was another axe, except this one was different. It appeared to be lighter, and she seemed to be able to swing it around with one arm instead of having to use both her arms. She had a huge smile plastered across her scarred face as she placed the small axe somewhere inside her lab coat.

I shut the door, and made a quiet noise of disgust. I wish someone wanted to sponsor me. I mean, I guess I haven't really shown them what I can do. All they saw was me encircle the girl's wrist with a lasso and then hold a knife to her throat. Actually, it was a _good_ thing they didn't send a sponsor gift now. It would make noise, and then the girls would hear it and come investigate.

"Do you think those are going to make a good enough weapon? You can always have another knife?" I asked.

"They'll be fine. I always got into fist fights with the other kids back home," he snickered.

_Yeah, they didn't have swords and axes._

"Okay," I said cheerily.

The backpacks we got during the bloodbath weren't the most ideal. Adam's had three bottles of water, and four packets of crackers. Mine only had three arrowheads, an extra knife, wire, and an empty canteen. I guess neither of us really checked inside our backpacks or weighed them since ten feet away from us Lucian and Sage were laughing and singing while their blood pooled around them.

I shivered as the memory flashed through my mind. I had never seen anything so… haunting in my life.

"You okay?" I heard Adam whisper. I looked over at him, and he had a sympathetic look in his eyes. Adam is a lot of things, most of them negative. However, one way I know he truly cares about my well being is because of how protective and in tune with my feelings he is. I almost had to laugh at the irony of it all. When it comes to girls he wants to have sex with, he is the bluntest, stupidest, and callous people you could meet. When you get to know him and he is your friend, he couldn't be any more caring without it getting creepy.

"I was just thinking about Sage again," I murmured.

He opened his arms up, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He raised his eyebrow, as if saying 'You know you need a hug'.

I walked over to him, and sat down. I leaned into his hug, and placed my head against his chest. No, this wasn't the start of some 'epic romance'. In fact, this was the most unromantic thing in the universe. We were on the floor in bathroom for crying out loud! Still, I felt my anxiety momentarily leave me. Being this close to someone… Hearing them breathe… Smelling something different from your own scent… Feeling their warmth seep into your skin… It was kind of nice. What I mean is it's reassuring to know that event though I'm in the Hunger Games, there is someone who is there for me no matter what.

Perhaps I won't ditch him once we get to the surface.

**District Ten:**

**Davis' POV:**

I'm done.

I've spent the entire day looking for Sage or Scar. Every time I turn around a corner, I expect to see Sage running to hug me or even to see a bit of relief cross Scar's face. Sadly, every time I turn a corner all I realize is how completely and utterly _alone_ I am. I feel just like I did back on the ranch once my daddy died.

_It was a sunny morning. I was inside playing with my sister Ruby. We were playing house. Nathan had made us a toy house out of extra timber a few months prior and it became our new favorite toy. I would always go collect extra hay and give it to mommy to put into cloth. She would then sew it into the cloth and somehow it came out in the shape of a small man. Then Ruby would knit some clothes to put on it while I found things for the faces and hair. She would sew them onto the dolls and then we always named them. Right now, we were playing with our family._

_It was Ruby's and my little secret. We made them to resemble our family. We had daddy and mommy and they were always somewhere doing chores inside or outside the toy house. Nathan's doll would always be outside helping. Then there was Ruby and I, and we played with our respective dolls. Oh, and we always had toddler Cooper waddling about. _

_We didn't like Cooper. All he did was cry, eat, and poop. I always had him wandering into the fireplace or falling down the stairs. Ruby would always laugh, but then scold me. Since she was ten and I was nine, she assumed it was her role to lecture me whenever she could. I found it extremely annoying._

_Right now, Ruby and I were having our family sit down and say grace. We thanked God for our food and our family. We then pulled the chair out from under Nathan and we both went into a fit of giggles. _

_I glanced at Ruby and smiled. She was very boyish and even dressed like Nathan and I. Playing with the doll house was the only remotely girly thing she did. Her favorite pastime was to go outside and roll around in the mud. When mommy told her she couldn't do it anymore because that meant more laundry, she started going into the mud butt naked! Mommy still got mad because that meant she had to bathe, but Mommy still let her. Although she said the oddest thing once. About how in a few years Ruby could definitely go outside naked anymore. I didn't really understand, but I told Ruby once. _

_She punched me and I fell down._

_I heard the backdoor slam open, and Ruby and I looked at each other in complete and utter bliss._

_"Daddy!" we both squealed._

_We ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Nathan was in tears talking to Mommy rapidly._

_"What's wrong Nathan?" Ruby asked._

_"Do you want to play with us? I bet that will make you happy!" I giggled._

_"Shut up!" Nathan yelled at me._

_"I need you two to stay here and watch Cooper! We will be back in a little bit," Mommy said to us kindly._

_"Why can't we come?" I whined._

_"Davis, please just do what I've told you," Mommy said. She rushed out the door with no shoes on. Nathan was right behind her, and he slammed the door shut._

_"Cooper's taking his nap," Ruby commented._

_"So?"_

_"So, that means we should follow them!" Ruby glared._

_"Why?"_

_"Mommy and Nathan are upset. Maybe Daddy needs help lifting something and he needs help. It's happened before. Remember when he threw out his back? Mommy was agitated for days! Now we're older, and we can help him lift! Maybe he won't get hurt if we're there!"_

_"Mommy told us to stay here," I argued._

_"Will you stop listening to Mommy and come on! Don't you care about your family?"_

_I nodded and we snuck out the front door. We ran around the house and across the backyard. We kept going until we hit the pasture. Right now, the ground was upturned. Daddy and Nathan were upturning the dirt and planting grass seeds. That way, when summer comes around, there will be grass for the sheep to graze on. _

_I saw that the entire field wasn't done, and that the tractor was still out. I noticed that I saw one figure standing by the tractor. I grabbed Ruby's hand and we raced to the tractor. We tip toed around the other side, and peeked. We saw Mommy hunched over something. We began to walk towards her when I felt a hand grab the collar of my shirt._

_"What part of stay home didn't you understand!"Nathan shouted at us._

_Mommy turned around, and motioned for him to take us away. I saw that her dress was shredded up and there was something red on her hands. _

_The same red that I saw on Daddy's clothes when a sheep got too old._

_I thrashed and bucked until Nathan lost his grip on me. I ran behind Mommy and peered over her shoulder._

_"Davis! Get away!" she screeched._

_Suddenly, everything became fuzzy. Daddy was on the ground. His usual tan skin was extremely pale. His bright blue eyes looked dull. It's when I glanced at his left leg I screamed._

_All I could see was a mass supply of red, and no leg. The fuzziness became even fuzzier, and everything disappeared. I heard a scream, and felt myself falling._

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't find out until a year later what exactly happened. A stray sheep got out onto the pasture. Daddy got out of the tractor to shoo the sheep away. The sheep got dangerously close, and Nathan freaked out. He accidently hit the emergency brake, and the tractor started moving again. The sheep frolicked away, but the tractor ran right over Daddy's leg. Nathan ran back to the house, and Mommy ran to the fields. She tried to stop the bleeding, but he had already lost too much blood. He died from the loss of blood only minutes after I passed out. Still, I wasn't mad when I found out a year later Nathan inadvertently killed our father. The only time I got angry instead of sad was right after the funeral…

_"Davis!" my mother yelled after me._

_I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and then into my bedroom. I slammed the door shut, and pressed one of the small chairs up against it. I walked over to the window, and stared outside. The rain was coming down hard. I was so furious. Daddy was gone, and wasn't coming back. No one would tell me what happened. All I remembered was passing out, and then waking up a few hours later. No one would let me see his body. The only people who got to see it before they shut the box was Mommy and Nathan. _

_I was mad because Nathan got to see him. Nathan got to say goodbye, but all I got to do was stare at the wooden box. I was determined to dig up the box when I was older and stronger, and say goodbye to Daddy. Until then, I was going to stay up here and be mad. _

_Through the waves of anger, I felt something else. Something I had never felt before. I couldn't name the feeling, but it was awful. I walked over to the doll house, and glared at it. The dolls were still at the dining table. I grabbed Nathan's doll and mine. I had me punching him in the face over and over again. I then threw him into the house, and placed me in my bedroom. I stared at the Daddy doll. Finally, I grabbed it._

_"Bye Daddy."_

_I moved the chair away from the door, and rushed back down the stairs. Before I, or anyone else, could stop me, I ran into the living room. I saw the glow of the flames, and threw Daddy's doll straight into them. I heard Ruby scream something, but I was entranced by the way the flames engulfed the doll. It burned the cloth, eating at it hungrily. It devoured it until it was gone. Gone. _

_Just like Daddy._

I wipe the tears away from my eyes, and continue to walk. Sage and Scar aren't like Daddy. Sage and Scar are still here. They're still here for me. All I have to do is find them. All I have to do is find them…

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth's POV:**

The lights were dimmed to the most extreme. Thankfully, I still had a little light. It was the kind of light you had walking through District Twelve at night when there was a full moon out. Enough to see where you were going, but not enough to see who someone else was.

I stopped when I found a corner, and set all of the supplies down. I rubbed my shoulders trying to soothe the terrible aching feeling. All day I had been caring all those darn supplies. Four backpacks full of junk, four swords, a jacket full of throwing knives, and then even more knives. When I found my allies, they had better be thankful!

Right now, I was on the fourth floor. Since I had the map, it was super easy to find my way around. It didn't show you where the way up was, but it did show you every room and hallway. It was easy to keep track of where I had already been because the map was the glowing dot on the map. Anyways, the fourth floor was where I was going to camp out for the night. It was high enough that only a few other tributes _might_ have made it up here, but its low enough so that I can hunt down my allies tomorrow.

After the bloodbath, I strangely only ran into two other tributes. I ran into the boy from District Eleven on the second floor. He seemed to be in a rush, and he ran smack into me. He looked completely terrified and sprinted away as fast as he could. In all honesty, he wasn't that fast and I could have easily taken him down and killed him. I just couldn't find any reason too. He was small, and had no supplies. Later, when I found that one of my knives was missing, I was ready to hunt him down and skin him alive. That little brat ran into me _on purpose_ just so he could snatch one of my knives. It was a risky, extremely smart move, but now he had one more enemy to worry about.

Hope the knife is worth it.

The other tribute I ran into was the boy from District Three on floor three. He wasn't in any hurry whatsoever and seemed to be observing every object in the room he was in. Again, he had no supplies so I just continued on my journey.

Now, I'm on the fourth floor waiting for the death toll to come up. I remember only hearing three cannons. Small bloodbath, but I'm not really worried about it. This arena seems far more dangerous than most arenas, which means a good chunk of the tributes will die from traps, mutts, or other tributes before they even reach the surface.

I glanced around the room. This floor seemed to be where they stored all the water. I noticed on floor three there was an extremely large room where rows of power generators were lined up. The room I was in had the same setup. Giant tanks filled with water were spread through the large area. I tried to find a way to access the water, but so far I found no way. There were no controls, no nozzles, and I couldn't even put a scratch on the glass.

I heard the anthem ring out, and I searched for the projection. It was on the ceiling, and I quickly grabbed a piece of jerky from one of the backpacks and began to lazily chew on it.

I was in mid-chew when I froze. The first tribute's face that showed up was Sage Hathaway.

I dropped the rest of the jerky and gawked at the ceiling. Two more tributes were dead. It has to be Ayla and Alexei. Of course they were the ones who died. They are the first tributes from District Thirteen. The Careers hated them. They have to be dead. It has to be them. The seconds seemed to be minutes as I stared at the screen. Slowly, Sage's picture began to fade away.

Devon Wright.

All the air left my lungs, and it seemed as if the world stopped. In his picture, he looked completely miserable. There was no smile on his face, and he even looked dead.

I felt myself begin to hyperventilate. Ayla's face appeared next, and then the seal faded away.

I didn't know what to do. I could feel the breath that I was inhaling and exhaling shaking.

No… No he can't be dead. He can't _leave me_. I… I need him! The memory of the night before the interviews flashed into my mind.

_"It sickens me," I whispered as I stared out of my bedroom window._

_Right now, I was sitting on the windowsill just watching the Capitol. Devon was sitting in an armchair a few feet away._

_"Why?"_

_"They have all this, and they don't even consider giving it a fraction of it away. All they ever want is more. They want more gadgets. They want more clothes. They want more blood. I'm just sick of being here."_

_"Have you tried looking through their eyes?" Devon asks._

_"Why would I? They're monsters."_

_"They're not monsters… They're just confused. Most of them see us as Neanderthals. No, not even that high. They see us as race horses to bet on. The government has beaten into them that our sole purpose is to die for their entertainment. To make produce for them just like a cow or sheep. They aren't monsters…"_

_I swerved my head around, and glared at him. "They don't think the Careers are animals!"_

_"Oh yes they do," he sighed, "The tributes from the Non-Career Districts are animals to slaughter. The tributes from the Careers Districts are the wolves… the hyenas… the vultures. The only reason they love them so much is they give them the show they look forward to. Then sometimes, in the herd of sheep, the Capitol finds a fox or snake to root for. The only things we are to them are animals. "_

_"I don't care. I just want them all dead. They don't even deserve to breathe the same air as we do," I hissed._

_"You're sister didn't deserve to die either."_

_"Don't bring her into this!"_

_"Why not? When you think about it, none of us deserve to live! We all do horrible things because we're human. It would be better if all of us were wiped off the face of the earth."_

_"Stop letting Valhalla get to you," I groaned._

_"That's not Valhalla talking. I'm just tired of asking why this happened, or why that happened. Maybe it's about time I just accept that these things happen. People die. No one deserves it. Is there really any difference between Cami dying and me?"_

_"There's a huge difference and you know it!"_

_"And what is that?"_

_I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. I felt my eyes beginning to sting when I whispered, "You're my best friend. I can't do this without you."_

_There was a few minutes of silence before he replied, "You were planning on volunteering." _

_"I know. I thought I could do this by myself. I thought I could play these games without anyone… but once I got here I was terrified. I didn't let anyone see it. Heck, I never even thought about it unless I was in bed by myself late at night. But, Devon, I'm scared. If you weren't here, I don't know what I'd do. I don't think I could handle any of this without you." _

_He stood up and walked over to me. "You can do all of this without me. You're one of the strongest people I know."_

_I look up at him and just chuckle, "I'm not as strong as I come off."_

_"I know that… Doesn't change the truth of what I just said."_

_I feel his hand on my shoulder, and I place my right hand over it. At the end of all this, I'm not going home. Sure, I'm going to kill all the Careers and get my revenge. However, when it comes down to the end, I'm not going home. He's going home. If I have to, I'll kill myself so that he can go home. Right now, he's even more important than my thirst for revenge, and I didn't think that would ever happen…_

I stand up shakily and press myself up against one of the water tanks. I look at my reflection. All I see is a cold, almost emotionless, expression staring back at me. I angrily hit it. I hit it again, and again. My breathing gets shallower, and my grunts get louder. I hit the glass over and over again. I feel my face contorting and twisting about. I start to ram my entire body into the glass. I continued to ram myself into the glass, just wanting to break something.

Finally, I end up hitting my head against it extremely hard, and I slide to the ground with a howl. I feel the tears beginning to pour down my face, and I press myself against the glass like it is my life support. I begin to sob audibly, and I feel my entire body shaking. I hear cries of mourning, and I can't help but cry even louder.

I can't do this without him! No matter what he said, I just can't! I need him! I need him to carry on. I need my best friend.

The worst part is he needed me. He needed me during the bloodbath. He needed protection, and I wasn't around to give it to him. I just assumed he could survive the bloodbath for a day. I hoped to find him, but I thought I knew I could look for him on Day Two. I press my face to the ground, and curl up into the smallest ball I can manage. I let the waves of pain and grief wash over me. I let it pull me out to see so that I forget even the simplest facts about my life. I forget about revenge. I forget about anger. I even forget about my sister. All I can think about is Devon, and how I need him. All I can think about is how much I want to die. All I can think about is that Devon doesn't exist anymore. All Devon now is a memory in my heart. A memory that will be forgotten by almost everyone. A memory that I won't ever be able to forget.

**Day One officially comes to a close! Oh gosh, I just realized how sad this chapter is. We hear about Valhalla's sad memory, Hawk's indecision, Davis' father's death, and Ruth's complete and utter grief. I didn't plan for this chapter to be so sad… just kind of happened. **

**Oh, and to the creators of Thomas and Valhala, I hope you both are okay with what i did with your characters. I know they definetly weren't planned to be half siblings at ALL. But, it was just perfect. They both have the same color eyes, he doesn't know who his father is, and her parents get divorced when she is young over something. I thought it fit perfectly together, plus all of you KNOW Raven would do this to our poor trbutes. Send them in with longlost siblings. **

**So please review and tell me what you think! Seriously, my reviewers have disappeared and I want you to come back D: **

**Oh, and there is a theme to this arena. I think I made it very obvious in this chapter, and the first one to PM me with the right theme will get… hmmm will get to help me decide one of the floors that I'm having some trouble with some different choices.**

**Anyways, review as usual, and I hope this was a good chapter :D plenty of surprises :D**


	29. Day Two: Part One: Failure

**Two things I wanted to address real quick. One, last chapter Hawk called his mentor Pops, and a lot of you thought that meant that he was his father. I mentioned it during the Reapings and when Ace was put into the games, but everyone calls that mentor Pops. He is not actually Hawk's father. Hawk's father is a thief, and he comes from a poor background. Two, the winner of the right theme of the arena contest was Acereader55! You'll see this chapter what it is if you didn't already guess it right!**

**Day Two: Failure**

**Part One:**

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth's POV:**

I woke up with a start. The side of my head was throbbing erratically and I clutched it in pain. Memories flashed through my skull as I thought of the night before. I thought of all the feelings that had been crashing through my body just hours ago. Now, I couldn't have felt emptier.

I let out a series of coughs, and glance around. The lights are still fairly dimmed, signaling it's not daylight yet. In fact, I think it's safe to bet I only got a few hours of sleep last night. Most tributes are probably just snoring away.

The thought of sleeping sounds desirable.

Although I feel emotionless, I can feel my angst just bubbling below the surface. My anger is completely gone for the time being. In fact, I can't even imagine myself feeling anger. Even if Cami was practically spitting in my face, I just can't imagine mustering up enough emotion to hate her. I crawl over to my supplies and quickly sort through them. I put two backpacks filled to the brim with water and food on one side, and quickly stuff my matches in my jacket's pockets. I also place several knives in my jacket, and strap two swords to my waist. I strap the third and fourth one around my shoulders and back, in case I need them later. I open a container behind a group of several other containers and throw the other two backpacks inside. I pick the jacket that has all the throwing knives inside it up gingerly.

I know I won't ever need it, but someone else could definitely use it. I debate whether I should keep it as a bargaining chip or just place it in one of the containers and eventually decided throwing it away is my best choice. I quickly hide it, and shuffle back to the place where I had been sleeping last night.

I slide down and bring my knees up to my chin. I don't know what to do anymore. I _had_ a plan. Find my allies. After that, come up with a plan to take down the Careers. Now, De-

Now two of them were dead. Alexei was the only one alive, and I literally felt no desire to meet up with him. I, frankly, didn't like him and only tolerated him because he was from Ayla's district. I turned on the map of the arena, and examined it. I could continue to go up. I knew I was ahead of all the other tributes and it seemed to be working fairly well. Still, I didn't even want to think of what would happen if the Careers got those special items.

I big part of me wanted to go after a few of those special items. It's just… I knew I was a big target now. I was the first one out of the bloodbath, and I had the map of the arena. Almost anyone would kill me for this map.

I needed to find a way to either delay or get rid of the competitors without putting myself in danger. Well, nothing in here could help me. Big whoop, this floor stored the water that pumped through the arena.

Wait… I know I haven't seen any controls, but there has to be some! You can't monitor how much water pumps and where it pumps without a control room! If I could find this room, there's bound to be cameras installed in it! I could see everything on this floor of the arena! I could find the special item the second it appears before anyone else knows what hits them!

I could find some way to distract the tributes.

Now, thinking pessimistically, the Gamemakers wouldn't need to put a room in this arena to control the water. Of course they can do that from their safe shelter that's miles away from here. However, everything I've seen in this arena has seemed very legitimate. In fact, they seem to have made everything just like they would if they were building a real laboratory. Why wouldn't they make an authentic control room? If they did, wouldn't they want a tribute to find it! Think of all the drama it would add, and that would make ratings go through the roof!

I stood up, and the pain from the side of my head shot through my body, reminding me of… him. I allowed a pang of grief to crash through my body before I stopped the floodgates. I didn't have time to mourn anymore. I didn't have time to appear weak! I needed to focus on the task at hand. I needed to make sure no one ever forgot me because if no one ever forgot me no one would ever forget him!

I needed to make his memory live on, and if that meant going batshit crazy, so be it. If I have to take risks, I will. I want these games to be remembered as the games some serious shit went down. You know what, even if I'm not as furious as I was with the Careers, I'm still going to find a way to screw with their heads. People still remember Katniss Everdeen for blowing up the Career's supplies. Whenever someone messes with the Careers, they're remembered for decades, even centuries! It's something that rarely happens!

I took one last glance at my map, marking the rooms I had already been in, before I shut it off. I turned to my right, and began walking to the nearest, unexplored room. Even if I died, I wasn't going to be forgotten. I wasn't going to be like every other District Twelve tribute who no one remembers! I'm going to make a name for myself! When people hear the name Ruth Angelo I want them to have some sort of reaction. Whether it's admiration, adoration, hatred, or fear, I want them to _know_ me. Because if they know me, then they know Devon and that's all I can ask for right now…

**District Eleven:**

**Scarlett's POV:**

Oh, Ruth, you're such a complete imbecile!

I quickly tied the strap of the jacket tighter and smiled to myself. When I stole that knife from Ruth, she thought I was just going to leave her alone. I wasn't that stupid! I knew that, eventually, she would be vulnerable. Plus, she had the map to the arena. Following her around would be one of my best choices of finding a way to a higher floor.

After I saw her have her breakdown last night, I knew she was going to do something dumb. Throwing away perfectly good supplies constituted as stupid. I guess it was a lot to carry, but those two backpacks might have ended up saving her from starvation or thirst later in the games. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

After the bloodbath, I ran for my life. I thought about trying to get some supplies, but Sage told me that she would get all the supplies we needed. I kept running, and then I ran into Ruth. I decided, heck, might as well stalk her for a bit. It paid off because I saw her put her excess supplies in those containers. After she was gone for ten minutes, I rushed over to the containers and ransacked them.

Now, I had a jacket with around twenty throwing knives, and a backpack that had some food, water, an empty canteen, and a piece of flint. There was also a small piece of rope that I decided to keep. It was only five feet long, but it might come in handy later.

I hugged the jacket closer to my body and giggled audibly. Yes, the jacket was far too big on me. Yes, I had no skill whatsoever in throwing knives. However, some of these knives looked like they could cut quite a gash in hand to hand combat. Also, this jacket concealed all my weapons. I could easily fake weak, and when a tribute gets too close, slash their throat open.

I hiked the backpack higher up, and began to walk the opposite direction Ruth went. Frankly, I was done with her. There were really no more supplies I wanted to leech off of her at the moment, and I could care less about any plan she has.

My plan was simply to get to the top of this stupid arena as soon as possible. I had no intention of finding or hunting down that idiot Davis. He will probably end up getting himself killed soon enough, and it would be a waste of my time and energy just to exact some petty revenge. Also, unlike Ruth, I've decided not to have a mental breakdown over Sage.

What, did you expect to find me crying, sobbing, and throwing myself up against a wall of glass as hard as rock?

In all honesty, I don't have the slightest tinge of sadness over Sage's death.

Oh… wait a minute…

Nope, nothing. She was just another person that I was going to use until I was done with her. I mean, of course she didn't live past her usefulness. I could have used her for at least a week before I would have been able to move on and be by myself. Still, the fact that she died in the bloodbath signals to me that she wouldn't have been that useful anyways. Let's face it, the Capitol loved her animal look and wanted to sponsor her. Besides that, all she had done was pick up a knack for archery. She wasn't that smart, and she certainly wasn't very strong. It was inevitable that she was going to die before the Final Twelve.

I guess I might sound a bit judgmental… Perhaps even a bit arrogant? Well, it's the kind of attitude I need if I'm going to win. I have to face Careers, muttations, traps, and other nuisances if I'm going to win. I can't just sit around and mope about. I need to get up and work my tail off! Unlike the Careers or other egotistical idiots, I know winning these games won't be a walk in the park. In fact, it's going to be a living hell.

I found a set of metal stairs, and looked upwards. It seemed to lead up near the tops of the water containers. I quickly ascended the staircase, and looked around. All it did was lead to a landing that encircled the large, square room that held these huge storage devices.

It certainly would have been nice to know what this floor had on it before I waltzed up here. If I could have grabbed some sort of electrical device from the floor below I could have…

A smile spread across my face and a let out another small giggle.

This was _rich_! The Gamemakers really did think of everything. There were twelve floors, and then the surface of the arena.

There were also twelve districts!

Well, at least, there was until President Raven decided to unveil the largest secret in history and tell all of Panem District Thirteen still existed. However, this arena was built months ago. They wouldn't have known to, nor could they have changed it, so that there were thirteen floors.

Anyways, the fourth floor had water storage devices on it. District Four was filled with water. The third floor had a bunch of parts and pieces of metal and wire. District Three made electronics. The second floor was filled with torture devices. District Two was known for their bloodthirsty Careers. Heck, the first floor was a floor filled with supplies and weapons. District One is known for supplying luxury goods to the Capitol. Supplies and weapons are the Hunger Games' luxuries.

With this new revelation, I could easily anticipate what was on future floors. For example, District Five was known for DNA splicing. Maybe the fifth floor would be filled with animals or mutts?

I continued my trek across the landing with a new skip in my step. I had these games figured out. Now, if only I could find the way up to the next floor!

**District Two:**

**Apollo's POV:**

"They certainly outdid themselves this time," Cami sneered as she tromped back up the staircase.

"What did they do?" Stark asked quietly.

"Well, I can now tell you what happens if you don't make it up to the next floor on time!"

I casually ran my hand through my blonde hair and tried to appear relaxed. My first thought was vicious mutts. My second was having the walls collapse down on top of you, effectively crushing you.

"Lasers," Cami smiled, "When I walked down, I was completely blinded by a bright red light. As soon as I got my bearing, I looked closer and saw individual lasers shooting into the room. They are close enough together so that only a fly could make it between them. Anyways, they appeared to be throughout the entire room, and they stopped right at the entrance to the staircase to the second floor. However, the maze still seemed to be intact, which means that these walls can hand the heat of the laser. Good to know in case a fire ever starts down here."

"Well, now that we've satisfied your curiosity, I think it would be best if we started moving. The item is somewhere on this floor, and I'd rather find it sooner than later," Lucian hissed.

"Don't boss me around, Seven," Cami growled back.

Tensions were high in the Careers right now. Lucian was hostile towards everyone, and everyone hated him. Well, almost everyone. Cami seemed to like him, even though ever since we woke up she seemed about ready to slit his throat open. Oceana and Stark got into a heated argument over, Panem knows what, last night and have been staring each other down ever since. Leith is still recovering from his chest wound, and has been grouchy with everyone except Oceana.

The only person I seem to be able to have a civilized conversation with is Asita. Until last night, Jordana was on that list, but now she refuses to even acknowledge my existence.

Pretty much what happened is last night is Jordana got a nice throwing axe sent to her. Obviously, Jordana didn't need any weapons, but I could tell it was one of those mind games. It was probably her brother/mentor telling us all that Jordana was on top when it came to the odds. I mean, this wasn't just one of the throwing axes that were in the Cornucopia. It looked sharp, dangerous, and deadly.

Then, only a minute later, a sponsor gift appeared for Asita. She opened it, and it was a dagger. However, again, it wasn't just a regular old dagger. This one was adorned with, what at least appeared to be, precious gems. It also shimmered in the light, and it had a beautiful golden hue to it. Everyone knew the second they laid eyes on it that it was a metaphor from the Capitol's favorite mentor Agatha. It was telling us, Jordana specifically, that the odds may be in her favor, but the Capitol is backing up Asita.

When I saw those weapons, it hit me that it seemed as if they reflected the traits of their owners. Jordana's axe was definitely more deadly, but it was plan. Kind of like Jordana. Asita's dagger certainly wasn't the most effective for battle, but it was pleasing to the eye.

This is when the arguments broke out. Jordana started it, and soon Asita was toe to toe with her. I was completely startled to see them that close, practically spitting in each other's faces. In the background, I could hear Oceana and Stark arguing over something, but my attention was completely on the two ladies I cared about the most in this arena.

Pretty much, I was the one to end it. I got right in between them, and commanded them to stop. Asita obeyed right away, but Jordana just kept yelling. Finally, I told her that this entire argument was stupid and that she needed to sit down and shut up.

I didn't realize until a second after the word's left my mouth that, in the Careers' eyes, I had taken Asita's side. As of now, I was getting the silent treatment from Jordana. I can see why she's angry, but right now I couldn't care less. This entire situation was just stupid!

To this day, I still don't know why they hate each other so much. I could understand it if it had to do with their personalities clashing. However, in many ways, they are similar. They are headstrong, independent, and ambitious people. I could understand it if they had done something to wrong the other. Sure, Jordana slapped Asita across the face, but that doesn't explain the irrational anger Jordana holds against her.

All I wanted was for them to get along. For the girl that I was falling in love with and for the girl I trusted completely to be able to simply _tolerate_ one another! But, no, they can't even go a day without practically strangling each other. I'm a fair and just person, and I would be mad at both of them if it wasn't for the fact that it seems as if Jordana always _starts_ the fights! I don't care if they both are nasty towards one another during the fight, it wouldn't keep happening if Jordana would just learn to keep her cruel remarks to herself!

I blinked and realized that everyone else had almost already finished setting up camp. I quickly stuffed the leftovers from my breakfast into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. I looked around for my sleeping bag, and realized Asita had already rolled it up. I threw it over into the survival supplies pile and smiled at Asita. She waved back and continued to pick up any scraps we left behind.

"Who thinks it would be best to stay together for today?" Cami yelled. I raised my hand, along with Asita, Cami, Oceana, and Leith.

"Majority rules," Cami hissed at a livid Lucian. Of course Lucian would want to split up into smaller groups. I don't think he liked the 'pack' mentality. He preferred to hunt by himself, and the more people you added the more people got in his way.

"One of these days-" Lucian growled.

"You're going to learn to obey, like a good little pet," Cami laughed.

Before Lucian could respond, she spun around and picked up her backpack. Even I had to admit, I admired Cami's courage. There was no way in hell I would taunt Lucian.

"Hey," Asita said as she walked over and looped her arm into around mine.

"Hey," I laughed as we began to start walking, "You certainly seem to be in a better mood."

Her expression darkened slightly as she murmured, "Well, seeing as yesterday was my first day in the Hunger Games and I witnessed someone be beaten to death, I think that today definitely seems a bit more optimistic."

"You do realize that, as a Career Pack, we're probably going to be killing a good chunk of the tributes."

"Yes, but as long as sane people like you and Stark are around I know you won't let it carry on for very long… Well, if it involves Cami that is…"

I nodded slowly and started to try and observe any signs of tributes or the item of the day. Of course Asita would think Stark and I were the only sane ones. Yesterday, when I was spending some time talking with Jordana, I noticed Asita struck up a conversation with Stark. At first, I could tell Stark was completely and utterly annoyed. Then, over time, he seemed to relax a bit and they seemed to be having pleasant small talk. At first, I was a tiny bit jealous. I had no idea why, but I just didn't like her talking to him. I didn't know him well enough to assume that he wouldn't try something. Then I realized how stupid I was being, and remembered that Stark was far too serious to think about starting a romance in the Hunger Games. Unlike me, he obviously cared about his emotional wellbeing…

Anyways, now Asita seems to have a fairly good opinion of Stark. All I know is that if they're sort of friends now, that will benefit us when the Careers breakdown. Before, I would have assumed he would have stuck by Cami. Now… I'm not so sure anyone would stick by Cami…

Don't get me wrong, Cami is an amazing leader. In fact, she seems able to hold this dysfunctional alliance together efficiently. That doesn't change the fact that almost no one likes her personally.

I heard a small argument break out behind us, and I glanced back to see Leith and Lucian bickering over something. I rolled my eyes and held Asita's arm even tighter. I was usually a laidback, chill kind of guy, but right now I wanted to rip out everyone's vocal cords just so that I could get a few minutes of silence…

**District Six:**

**Lucy's POV:**

"Do either of you ever wonder what's beyond this these white walls? Whether we're surrounded by rock or if perhaps there is nothing there at all?"

I could feel myself staring daggers into the back of Winnifred's skull.

_No, I haven't you numbskull. What kind of question is that when you're in an arena fighting for your life!_

"No I haven't! What an interesting topic," I replied, oozing sweetness.

Jacqie flashed a smile at me as she continued to search the current room we were in for perhaps the special item. After my several of my snide comments yesterday, Jacqie began to get extremely worried. I could read her body language. All she wanted was for all of us to get along and be friends. Once I realized this, I didn't mind playing nice with Winnifred. Sure, she was absolutely the most annoying twit I had ever met, but it was only a few more days of acting.

I picked up a box full of chain links, and frowned. I had to make it look like I was looking for the special item, but personally I couldn't care less. If Lavender wanted any of us to have it, she would tell me where it was.

I glanced over at Jacqie and frowned again. Sadly, these stupid emotions were getting to me. I was actually beginning to _like_ Jacqie! Unlike Winnifred, she was serious, but also had a cheerful side to her. It was almost hard to lie to her yesterday. She asked me why I was so mean towards Winnifred earlier in the day, and I told her it was just the stress of the bloodbath catching up to me. Of course, she believed me without a little doubt in her pretty little brain.

"Well, I think it's safe to say it's not in here," Winnifred commented.

_I already said it wouldn't be in some random barracks in a random part of the arena, but no! Don't listen to me._

"Should we search the restroom next door?" Jacqie asked.

"You really think they'd hide an all important item in a toilet?" I giggled.

Both of my 'allies' burst out into laughter, but started to walk towards the room regardless.

Why does no one listen to me!

I followed closely behind them. The second we entered the room, I knew something was off. Perhaps it was just the Capitol engineered side of me going crazy, but I could swear there was something in here besides us. Damn the Capitol for taking away my enhanced senses!

I pulled out my ebony dagger and took in every corner of the room. Winnifred and Jacqie were both checking by the sinks, which didn't have running water. I quickly glanced under the stall doors, but saw nothing. An idea popped into my head, and I quickly kicked the first stall door in. I continued down the row, kicking each door in one by one. If there was _something_ in here, I was going to find it!

When I was about a third of the way down, I raised my foot to kick the door in. As soon as it flew open, something flew _out_ at me. I let out a scream and raised my dagger. Sadly, I wasn't quick enough and the organism knocked me to the floor.

"You weasel!" I screamed when I saw it was my Neanderthal District Partner, Adam. I quickly grabbed his hair and tried to smash his face into the floor. He grabbed my hands and practically crushed them in his firm grip. I quickly glanced at my allies to see there were preoccupied with the girl from District Ten. She had a rope tied around Winnifred's neck and was strangling her. Jacqie was standing nearby in a stand still. If she attacked, the girl could easily snap Winnifred's neck. If she didn't move, Winnifred would die from lack of oxygen.

_I told you that girl was nothing but a leech! She can't even hold her own in a fight!_

Finally, I had enough of this stupid game. I quickly thrusted my leg into Adam's side, and he tumbled off of me. I grabbed my ebony dagger, and brought it down as quickly as it could. Adam shifted slightly, and only a second later my knife came crashing down where his arm had previously been.

"Run!" he yelled.

I could hear scuffling behind me, but my sights were set on Adam. I leapt at him, and brought my knife right down on his skull.

Sadly, he grabbed my wrist before the point of the knife made contact and flung me aside. I let out another yelp and heard my head crack as it hit the floor. I groaned, and heard some more scuffling. After twenty seconds or so, I could hear someone moving towards me and I opened my eyes.

Winnifred had a bright red mark across her neck, and I could see a bruise beginning to form, but overall she seemed fine. Jacqie didn't have a scratch on her.

"They got away unscathed?" I asked.

"Well, from the way you Adam was clutching his side I bet you gave him quite the bruise. But besides that, yes, they got away unscathed."

Jacqie lifted my head up and began dabbing at it with the extra jacket from one of the backpacks. It was only when she pulled it away did I realize she was dabbing at blood.

"What… What happened!" I asked worriedly.

"You cracked your head fairly hard. It's bleeding quite a bit, but all head wounds do. You should be fine." Jacqie replied.

_It's time, Angel. Make up some excuse and get out of there. You know what to do after that_

Lavender's voice rang through my skull, and it took me a few seconds to understand that it was an order. I pulled myself up slightly and then swooned overdramatically.

"Lucy!" Winnifred squealed.

I fluttered my eyes and murmured, "Do you two remember that room we went into near the beginning of yesterday? The room with the blood splattered across the walls?"

They both nodded.

"There were bloody bandages spread across one of the machines. The blood is probably fake and those bandages would serve as a good bandage. Will you two go get them for me?"

Jacqie nodded and said, "Of course. Winnifred, you stay here with Lucy. I should be back in a half an hour to an hour."

"No!" I yelled. I quickly put on an even more pained look to cover up my outburst and whispered, "I want both of you to go. I just can't even imagine you going by yourself. I'm fine here. I'll go hide in one of the stalls. If something happened to you out there, Jacqie, and Winnifred could have helped… I don't know what I'd do with myself."

Both of them looked moved, and I could feel the smugness spreading through my body. Did I feel a little guilty for lying? Yes, but knowing I was such a great liar made up for it. What can I say? I like to win.

"We'll be right back. You can make it back to the shower by yourself?" Jacqie asked as she began walked towards the door with Winnifred.

"Of course. I just hope I don't have a concussion," I said sadly as they exited the room.

I waited five minutes, and then hopped to my feet. I quickly brushed off my clothes, and walked over to the door. I slung my backpack over my shoulders, and pocketed my knife. It was time to make sure the Capitol got exactly what they wanted. That was my job after all. I had one purpose, and that was to make others happy. Screw my own personal feelings.

**Mentor's POV:**

**District One:**

**Rouge's POV:**

"That little liar! She just pulled a fast one over Jacqie and Winnifred," I said with admiration to Copper.

I won my games mostly based on my ability to lie and act. Sure, I was pretty good with archery, but certainly not as good as any of the other Careers. If I couldn't have been as good as I was at lying, I would have been killed on Day Two by Olivia.

"I wonder where she's going," Copper questioned.

"Probably to look for that stupid item that has everyone in such a hissy fit," I laughed.

I glanced at the camera on my panel that was always on Cami. Even though I hated that girl, I was still shocked she could lead the Career Pack so efficiently. The last time a female lead the Career Pack it ended badly. Everything went from logical and efficient to personal and bitchy. The Career Pack disbanded on the second or third day that year. They usually last at least a week.

I glanced at the door as it opened and Lorie walked in.

"Someone looks pleased," I commented.

"Of course I am. I just accomplished quite a feat," she sang as she flipped her hair.

"You said no to the doctor when he offered you another breast enlargement?" I asked innocently.

Everyone who heard me roared in approval, and Lorie just sent me a death glare.

"No, I actually convinced someone to sponsor my tribute," she snarled.

She walked over to her Control Panel, and began pressing thing rapidly. She hit one last button, and looked at the screens smugly.

I heard the noise of sponsor gift hurdling towards a tribute, and Hawk raised his head. A metal case appeared in front of him, and he quickly pressed the button to open it. Inside were six fairly nice throwing knives and a liter of water.

"Ooh, how fancy," I replied, dripping with sarcasm.

"It is for District Nine. It was terribly hard to convince the man to sponsor Hawk. He just kept saying he didn't believe Hawk had it in him to win…"

"Well, I bet a flick of your ever so famous hands changed his mind. Perhaps gave him so initiative?" I laughed.

Very few people picked up on the underline meaning of my statement, but Lorie looked absolutely livid.

"You could try making friends with the other mentors," Copper commented.

"But where's the fun in that?" I smirked.

I let out a yawn and straightened my dress. Although I did love the amazing quality of this dress, it was just do dang _tight_. I felt as if I was being suffocated to death. Still, the Capitol expected me to have a certain look, and I wasn't going to disappoint them again. Last time I did…

"Hey, would you like to go out to coffee with Memory and I?" I heard someone ask me.

I spun around and saw Ophelia grinning at me.

"You and Memory never leave this room," Copper practically accused.

"Don't be so overdramatic, Copper. Cody and Felix have our tributes under control, just like you have yours. I just thought it would be nice to get some nice girl bonding time with the newest victor," Ophelia grinned.

"You did say you wanted me to make friends," I whispered in his ear. I turned to them and said, "I'd love to."

I stood up, and began to walk towards the door. We left the Control Room and Ophelia just chattered away. We took many different twists and turns until we came to a building I didn't recognize.

"This is a café?" I asked.

My response was being shoved through the front door.

I fell to the ground, and suddenly all light was gone. I heard the click of the lock, and a few light bulbs burst to life.

"We don't have much time so we need to make this quick," Ophelia spoke harshly.

"What in Panem's name are you talking about!" I hissed as I got up off the floor.

"Just listen," Memory hissed.

Ophelia went on to explain her rebellion. She went on to explain how she wanted to join the Capitol and take the Hunger Games down from the inside out. She explained it all, and all I felt was complete and utter terror. I couldn't rebel against President Raven again. I couldn't lose my daughter. I couldn't lose Link's and my child.

"No, I won't do it," I said calmly.

"What?" Memory practically hissed, "What do you mean no? This is something that has to be done, and we need you!"

"You heard me, I said no."

"But, don't you see? This benefits you most of all!" Ophelia exclaimed.

"How so?" I replied curtly.

"We all know what you go through. It's obvious by your looks what the Capitol makes you do."

I felt a deep anger welling up inside of me, but I continued to act cold and indifferent when I said, "You don't know me. For all you know, I enjoy my duties."

"Oh yes, only you would love having sex with Capitol freaks," Memory sneered.

"Oh don't be stupid, Memory," I hissed back, "Just because you can't get laid doesn't mean you should hate those of us who can."

"I said I wouldn't hate you last year, and I meant it. Still, I'd shut your mouth before you make me angry," she growled.

"Why? You can't handle the truth?"

"You want truth? Fine, I'll give you truth. You're a _coward_! You can't bring yourself to rise up against something that is so purely evil just because you're afraid of losing your comfortable, cushy lifestyle. You're a worthless coward!"

"How would you know what I'm afraid of! You don't have anyone you truly love! You cut off all serious attachments a long time ago! In fact, the real sad part of your life isn't the fact that you don't love anyone. It's the part where _no one loves you_!" I quipped.

Memory let out a strangled cry and slapped me across the face. I quickly responded by grabbing her wrist and raking my diamond nails down her arm. She let out a cry, and I let go. I wiped the blood off on her outfit and stomped towards the door.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But let's get one thing straight. President Raven took away my three people I loved, and one of them because I rebelled against her. I'm not going to risk that again. I don't care what the price is; I will not hurt anyone else that I love!"

I unlocked the door and stormed out of the building. How dare they pretend to know me! How dare they try to reel me into their death trap! If they wanted to die, that's their problem, but they are not taking my family and me down with them!

**District Seven:**

**Jacqie's POV:**

"These should do nicely. They have the least 'blood' on them," I said to Winnifred as I shoved them into her backpack.

"You do think Lucy will be alright… Right?" Winnifred asked anxiously.

"Of course she will be. We just needed something more absorbent to help stop the bleeding. I bet even without this she will be fine," I replied as optimistically as possible.

We began walking back the way we came, and my mind couldn't help but wander away. It was only Day Two, and I almost lost both of my allies. I had a split second of complete and utter fear when I saw Winnifred being strangled and Lucy being pinned to the floor. I couldn't even make a single muscle move. I was terrified of losing them.

Now, I wasn't extremely close with these girls, but they were the best things I had in this arena. One thing about me was that I'm loyal to the bitter end. These two girls were my sworn allies, and I was the eldest. I was supposed to take care of them. I guess that's what I'm doing now, but every time I see Winnifred's neck or think about Lucy's head all I can think about is what a complete and utter failure I was.

That's when I heard it. A scream. A scream that sounded exactly like Lucy.

I didn't even look at Freddie as I began to pick up the pace. The screaming got steadily louder, and I knew it was moving towards us. After a minute, we were half way down a certain hallway when I saw Lucy turn the corner.

Her short, brown hair was flying behind her as she ran. She had a look of pure horror across her face. Her blood splattered hair sent blood across the walls at certain movements. My eyes practically fell out of my skull when I saw all eight Careers turn the corner as well. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw Lucian's smile get even bigger.

In a matter of seconds, I knew what I had to do. Lucy was fast, and I knew she could outrun the Careers eventually. Freddie, however, was only a good sprinter. The Careers would overtake her quickly. I had fairly good stamina, but I knew they would catch me as well.

"Run," I commanded Freddie.

"What?"

"I said _run_!"

She looked at me worriedly, and sprinted the way we came. I slowly drew out my battle axe. This hallway was very narrow. I could stop the Careers from running past me for a short while. Hopefully it would be enough time for my allies to make it to safety.

The second Lucy glided past me, I held my axe in the most intimidating position I could muster. The first Career to get to me was Oceana, simply because she was the fastest, and I quickly swung my axe at her. She leapt back in time, and all the Careers stopped.

After a few seconds of silence, Lucian yelled, "Jacqie is _mine_. If any of you even touch her, I will gut you alive. I don't care how badly you think I'm doing, no one interrupts!"

Lucian made his way through the crowd. He was equipped with many, many different weapons. The first one he pulled was a knife, and he casually threw it at me. I knew was he was doing, and my only option was to deflect it with my axe. He took seized the opportunity and leapt at me. He forced me to the ground, and my axe went flying from my hands.

"Go get the other girls!" he roared.

I heard all the Careers stomp by me, and I prayed that they had enough time to escape. Right now, I had my own problems to worry about.

I thrashed about, and tried everything to get him off of me. He held me down as if I was just a fish flipping about trying to get back to water.

"I always knew it would come down to this. I always knew I would hunt you down again, and kill you like I should have before," he laughed.

"You had no right to try and kill me on the train!" I spat at him as I continued to flail.

"That's not the time I'm referring to, honeybee," he chortled.

My head began to ache. Why did the name 'honeybee' sound so dang familiar. "Well, I certainly don't know!"

He moved his face close to my ear, and whispered, "Think back. Think back to that one day in the forest. Think back to the day you got this pretty little scar."

My head began pounding so loud I thought a blood vessel might burst. Suddenly, as if by magic, it all came back to me. I remembered everything. I remembered walking through the forest with my papa. I remembered us seeing Lucian dragging the little boy further into the forest. I remembered Lucian tackling Papa to the ground. Papa told me to run, and he called me his honeybee. Instead of running, I picked up a stick and smashed it into Lucian's head. He stabbed Papa through the heart with a knife, and tackled me to the ground. I remembered him slashing that same knife across my face, disfiguring it. I remembered him smashing my skull with something extremely hard. The last thing I remembered was the rancid stench of his breath on my face.

"You… you sick _bastard_!" I screamed.

Lucian began to laugh hysterically, and shouted, "So you _finally_ remember!"

"You're damn right I do!" I spat in his face.

Suddenly, all my anger came boiling to the surface. When my papa died, I was furious. I was upset with him that he left me. I was upset with his job because it took him from me. I was upset with the Capitol because they had created the mutts. Still, that's all I thought it was. I thought it was some muttation that had attacked us! I didn't have anyone to blame. I didn't have anyone I could exact my revenge upon.

Now it was time to make this wretched organism regret the day he even laid on eyes on us in the forest.

"It will be all the better in the end. The angrier you are, the harder you'll fight. It's always so much more fun to hunt and kill a boar than it is to hunt and kill an innocent doe."

Instead of thrashing about, I stayed as still as possible. I kept my anger below the surface, and tried to look as determined, but also as defeated, as possible. One thing Lucian hadn't noticed was that one of my hands was free. If he shifted his weight even a little bit, I could easily force my arm out from under him and fight back. I just had to bide my time.

"I think it's best to bring up old wounds, don't you?"

Lucian grappled for the knife he threw at me, and grasped it firmly. Before I could even utter a noise, he swiped the knife swiftly across the scar he had given me only a year ago. He kept swiping at it again and again, each time going a little bit deeper. I felt the blood begin to ooze down my face, but I didn't cry out. Finally, he swiped a little too far and a little too deep. I forced my right arm out from under him and made a desperate grab for the knife.

He let out a cry of surprise, and I managed to grasp the other side of the handle firmly. I began to shove it towards him, but he was far my superior when it came to strength. He managed to turn the knife towards me, but he was so focused on the knife he didn't notice my other hand was beginning to wiggle its way out from under him. By the time I got it free, he managed to have the knife pressing against my throat. As fast as lightening, I clawed at his hair and pulled as hard as I could. He shifted slightly from pain and surprise, and I used his own weight against him. I used the momentum of his falling, and added my own weight behind it. He collapsed to the floor, but still kept a firm grip on his knife. I glanced around for my battle axe to only see it partially under Lucian.

He began to stagger to his feet, and I knew I needed to run away. I sprinted down the corridor the Careers originally came from, and found my smaller axe strapped to the inside of my jacket. I pulled it out, and held it firmly with my right hand. I could feel the blood beginning to ooze into my right eye, and I frantically wiped it away. I knew I was leaving a small trail of blood, but I couldn't control it.

I ran into the first room I saw, and glanced around. It was obviously used for restraining captive, and I knew this was definitely the wrong room to go into. I could hear Lucian trampling down the corridor, and knew I didn't have time to leave and find a different room. I dashed to a metal stretching table and squatted down behind it.

I heard him kick the door open, and I held my breath. Just like on the train, the sound of his footsteps almost disappeared entirely. However, I managed to hear a small sound from the middle of the stretching table, and knew Lucian was climbing over it. I desperately crawled around it, and saw that he hadn't noticed me. I leapt to my feet right when he looked over the edge, just like he had on the crate on the train.

"Don't you know the same trick doesn't work twice, Lucian!" I screamed as I brought my axe down. It seemed that he had heard me when I stood up, and knew what was coming. He had moved slightly, so instead of burying my axe into his spinal cord, I only managed to cut right into his left side and graze his abdomen. He let out a cackle of laughter, and I was caught off guard for a second. People should not _laugh_ when they are in pain!

He took my moment of shock, and used it to his advantage. He leapt to his feet, and pulled out a spear. He tried to skewer me with it, but I hopped out of the way and brought my axe down on its shaft, almost cutting it in half. He swept at my head with it, and I squatted down and slashed at his legs with my weapon. I managed to cut in a little bit to his right leg, but he jumped backwards before I could dig into it.

As I was about to straighten up, he yanked out a sword and brought it down towards my body. I barrel rolled out of the way, but he managed to knick my right shoulder. I clutched it in pain, but quickly let go and switched my axe to my left hand. Lucian jabbed at me again, and this time I knocked the sword from his hand.

Desperately, he leapt at me, and I tried to impale him with my axe. Right when he was about to run into it, he used my trick against me and clawed at my hair. He pulled it so hard that I reflexively grabbed at my head. He brought my skull down to the ground, and smashed it so hard that I could see blackness around my vision.

I heard Lucian howl with complete and utter bliss, "Now _this_ is going to be fun!"

Right before the blackness swallowed me, my last thought was that I failed. I failed to avenge my father's death, and the payment for it was going to be with my life.

**I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I have writing it! I know, I left you on a cliffhanger :D those are always the best things to leave on, right ;D. **

**So please review! Inspire me to update faster ;D the only question I really have for you is what do you think will happen to Jacqie? Besides that, do your regular lovely reviews, whether they are simply a few upbeat sentences, or the full analyzing ones that I adore so much. **


	30. Day Two: Part Two: Pieces

**Day Two: Pieces**

**Part Two:**

**District Five:**

**Winnifred's POV:**

_Escape_

The only thought that was pounding through my head was that one word. My feet were flying across the ground, fleeing the eminent danger. I knew I couldn't keep this up forever. In fact, I could feel myself ever so slowly beginning to lose my momentum. My muscles were screaming for release. My legs hurt with every impact from every step. Still, that one word rang through my skull and it kept me moving forward.

I could hear the footsteps behind me. They were distant and far off, but they were there. I knew eventually I had to dive into a room, but I could tell that the Careers were searching every room they came across. They were probably smart enough to have one of them search the room that they came across and have the others keep running down the corridor. However, I couldn't stop now. I couldn't give up the lead Jacqie gave me.

This entire time I had been listening for a cannon fire, but none had been heard. The good news is that meant she wasn't dead. The bad news is I didn't know what was happening to her. Eventually, the footsteps began to die out. I still heard one set of footsteps, and I knew it had to be Lucy. I quickly slipped into one of the rooms, and shut the door behind me. I peeked out the window, and continued to look until I saw a figure fly by. I opened the door, grabbed her arm, and yanked.

Lucy let out a small yelp, and spun around. She saw it was me and her eyes began to sparkle. I motioned for her to come in, and as soon as she did, I shut the door.

"Are there any more Careers following us?" I asked nervously.

"Nope, it's just you and me," Lucy smiled.

"I didn't think we were going to get away," I admitted.

"Well, both of us are certainly safe for now," Lucy chuckled.

"We need to try and find Jacqie. I don't know where she is, but she had to have escaped! If we can come up with a good enough pl-"

"Jacqie is probably being tortured to death by Lucian as we speak," Lucy giggled, "There's no reason to go back and find a mangled body and a team of Careers."

"I don't know why you find this _funny!_"

"Because my plan worked out swimmingly."

I felt my blood freeze. My eyes practically popped out of my sockets, and my mouth opened. My heart began to pick up speed, and I took a step backwards, towards the door.

"I underst-"

"I sent Jacqie and yourself on a pointless task. Then I got up, and purposefully found the Careers. I pretended to be terrified, and began to run away, not at full speed mind you. I led them right to where I knew the both of you were at. I knew Lucian would kill Jacqie, and that the Careers would chase us. I was hoping they could catch you as well, but I guess I must take the task into my own hands," Lucy grinned darkly.

I felt as if my entire world was shattered into a million pieces.

"Why did you do that! _All_ of us could have made it to the final three! We had a good alliance. We had a good strategy! We were supposed to have each other's backs! I hoped-"

"That's your problem, _Freddie_" Lucy hissed, "All you seem to be able to do is strategize and _hope_. Hope does nothing! If you want something to happen, you make it happen! Life isn't as simple as hoping and sprinkling magic fairy dust. You have to work to achieve your goals."

"I just can't comprehend why you would do such a thing!" I cried.

"It's simple. The Capitol wanted something, and I gave it to them. As long as I do what the Capitol wants, I get to live! The longer a live, the more likely I might be able to live past these stupid games! As long as I obey orders, I have a chance."

"You don't have to please the Capitol to win this game! You have to use your brain and your wits! You find people you can trust! You-"

"That may work for you, but it certainly doesn't apply to me! As long as I'm valuable to the Capitol, I won't be dying anytime soon. It's sad I can't say the same about you."

Lucy began to step towards me, and she whipped out her dagger. A smile spread across her face as she whispered, "I'm going to enjoy this."

I backed up and grappled for the door handle. Lucy let out a war cry and flew towards me. I opened the door, and stumbled into the hallway. I tripped into the wall opposite of the door and fumbled for my knife. I held it in front of me, and stared at Lucy.

She was about a foot away from me, and gripping her head.

"What do you mean I can't kill her!" she mumbled to herself.

She appeared to be having a heated discussion _with herself_, and I realized how mentally unstable she might be. I slowly began to slide away from her. Once I was around eight feet away from her, she turned towards me and sent me a death glare.

"You're extremely lucky that someone is in a charitable mood today. Just remember one thing. There is no way in hell you're winning these games, whether or not I kill you or something else does!"

She sprinted past me and went to the end of the hallway. She took a sharp left and I let out the breath I had been holding. I stuck my knife back in my jacket and slowly began walking down the hallway. Instead of taking a left, I took a right. I felt the tears brimming in my eyes as I thought of Jacqie. In a matter of an hour, I had lost both of my allies. In a matter of minutes, I realized one of them was a complete and utter snake. Suddenly, it didn't feel like the world was shattering into a million pieces. It felt like my _heart_ was the one breaking.

**District Four:**

**Oceana's POV:**

I walked out of the room I was searching with a sigh.

Thank Panem neither one of those girls were in there.

Yes, I knew I was supposed to be a Career. Still, I couldn't bring myself to even think about killing someone. Well, at least people who didn't deserve it. I still had the urge to send a spear through either Lucian's or Cami's necks when they weren't looking. They were both so _heartless_.

I mean, for example, Jordana could kill. In fact, Jordana had already killed someone. However, I could tell that killing someone actually affected her. Sure, she wasn't letting on to it very much, but I could still see the subtle differences. She seemed more prone to sadness and anger, and also seemed to avoid the subject of 'hunting' tributes as much as possible.

I began to go back the way I came. I knew that the Careers had either caught the girls by now or they had gotten away. Either option, I was of no use as of now. I walked past one of the rooms and peeked in. Jordana must have searched the room faster and gone forward to help the Careers chase down the tributes. After a few minutes, I came to the first room and moved forward to look inside. Right when I was about to step in front of the door, it opened and Asita strolled out.

"You certainly took a long time," I said nonchalantly.

"I don't think either of us wanted to try to catch up to the Careers just to see them slaughter two girls," she quipped.

I nodded in agreement. "We should probably go look for Lucian. I haven't heard a cannon fire yet and Cami will be furious if he isn't here when she comes back."

"I guess," Asita conceded.

We began to walk towards the spot where we had originally found Jacqie. I still didn't have that much of an opinion of Asita. There were times I thought she was just using Apollo, and then other times she seemed to genuinely care about him. Since we had reached the arena, I had begun to see more of the latter, which was encouraging. However, it was hard to try and get to know her when Jordana treated anyone who associated with her like they had some fatal disease. Personally, I'd rather not be on Jordana's bad side.

When we got to the spot of origin, both Asita and I let out a shudder. Blood splattered the walls and covered the floor. I could see a trail of blood going down the corridor, and I knew that Jacqie must have gotten away. At least for a short time…

We began to jog down the hallway, each of us readying our weapons. For all I knew, they could still be fighting it out. Even if Lucian didn't need some backup, perhaps he _needed_ it. The real question is would I help him if he needed it?

We continued to follow the bloody trail until we saw it end at a door with no windows. Both of us looked at each other with fear in our eyes. There was blood going in, but none going out…

I grabbed the handle, and jiggled it lightly. It wasn't locked, and I slightly pushed the door open.

What I saw inside made me sick.

There wasn't as much blood as I expected, but I could still see it covering the floor and other objects. Lucian had his back to us, and I saw him standing over a body.

"Lucian?" I asked.

He spun around and I let out another gasp. The blood that was covering the room wasn't just Jacqie's, but his as well. I could see blood dribbling out of his side and stomach, and running down his right leg. He had blood sprayed across his face, but I knew _that_ blood wasn't his.

"How do you like my masterpiece?" he laughed hysterically.

He stepped aside and my stomach dropped. Jacqie was strapped to a table, clearly unconscious. I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned around. All of the Careers were behind us and staring at the same scene we were. She had a deep gash across her face where her previous scar had been. I could also see a fairly deep cut on her right shoulder, along with other small cuts across her body. Her outfit was torn to shreds, and she was covered in blood. Again, I knew that all that blood wasn't hers. If she had lost that much blood, she would have been dead. Plus, all of those wounds weren't fatal enough to make her lose enough blood to be dead. They seemed to be deep enough to inflict pain with movement, but not deep enough to kill. It wasn't until I saw the metal manacle around her neck and the iron shackles that kept her arms behind her back that I knew what he was doing.

"Every team needs a mascot! Say hello to our new pet!"

You could cut the tension with a knife.

"We need to keep him happy," Cami whispered so that all of us except Lucian could hear.

"What a marvelous idea, Lucian!" Cami said louder and full of enthusiasm. She shoved us aside and entered the room. She walked up to him and whispered something in his ear as well.

"Isn't this a great idea everyone?" Cami asked us.

I could hear a mutter of agreement, but I couldn't hold it in. "No, this is an awful idea!"

Lucian's smile faded and he just stared at me. "Come again?"

"You heard me," I hissed, "You think this is a good idea? This is horrible! How can you treat a human this way! I can't belie-"

"Listen here," Lucian yelled, "When I came into this alliance, all of you said I could treat Jacqie and Sage however I wanted once I got into the arena. All I did with Sage was kill her and tear her head off."

I glanced at his extra backpack and shuddered.

"I don't want to make it that easy on Jacqie. I want her to suffer! I want her to feel as if she isn't human anymore. I want her to be nothing more than an animal when I kill her. Until further notice, she will be our obedient pet. I will tether her to me with the chain attached to the manacle that is attached to her neck, and drag her around everywhere with me. I'll make sure she is tied down at night, and that she is not within reach of any of us or any means to escape. I don't just want to torture Jacqie. I want to make her feel pain for as long as possible. I want to completely defeat her! I've waited long enough! I deserve this!"

I opened my mouth to argue about Jacqie's humanity, but Cami caught my eye. She was telling me that if I said one more thing, she was personally going to walk over to me and kill me without a second thought.

I shut my mouth and glared defiantly at both Lucian and Cami.

"We are going to have to wait until our new mascot wakes up. We'll give her an hour, and if she isn't awake by then Lucian can carry her. We still have to find the special item _and_ entrance to the next floor before midnight tonight. Otherwise, things might not end so well for us…" Cami ordered.

Lucian and Cami walked over to Jacqie, perhaps to examine her body. Maybe even to heal some of her deeper wounds. Apollo and Asita walked over to a table and sat on top of it. Jordana began conversing with Leith and Stark nearby. My anger was still bubbling up inside of me. I stared at Leith and tried to find the man I met before the games. I tried to find a trace of compassion or kindness, but all I saw was a wall of stone. The same wall I had seen since I found him during the bloodbath. My anger and frustration finally erupted. How could they sit here and act as if _this wasn't happening!_

I let out a huff and stormed out of the room. They all knew I was going to come back. No one just up and left the Career alliance. At least, not if they wanted to live.

I marched down the hallway and took a right. I immediately sat down against the wall as soon as I knew I was out of earshot of the Careers. I was getting so sick and tired of this cycle. Everyone was always bickering, and when they weren't bickering they were torturing or killing someone!

And now this!

I have never seen of, nor heard of, a Hunger Games where a tribute captured and kept another tribute like some animal! That's just sick and wrong!

After a few minutes, I heard footsteps. Part of me was hoping it was Leith, but I knew I was hoping in vain. As of recently, he wouldn't come looking for me. He'd just wait for me to show back up at his side.

Surprisingly enough, Asita was the one to appear in my line of vision. She jumped back a bit when she saw I was sitting right around the corner.

"Are you okay?" she asked politely.

"What do you think?" I replied.

"That you're not," she sighed as she took a seat next to me.

"Good guess," I replied curtly.

After a minute or so of silence, she whispered, "You can talk about it if you want."

I let out a deep puff of air and looked at her. I tried to see some sort of ulterior motive. I tried to see if maybe she was just going to mock me or use it against me later. However, she just seemed to be genuinely concerned.

"I'm just upset that no one else stood up to Lucian. I can't stand the thought of having to watch him lug that her around for the next week or so. I'm not sure if I'd rather try and kill him, or kill her just to put her out of her misery."

"Well, if you kill her, then Lucian will try to kill you anyways," Asita replied seriously.

"Very true. I hate psychopaths…"

"I'd be worried if you didn't!"

I let out a small chuckle. After another minute of silence, Asita spoke up again. "By the way you're looking at your hands as if they hold the answers to all of life; I think something else if bothering you as well."

I kept my mouth shut.

"Perhaps _someone_?"

"You wouldn't understand," I sighed, "You actually have someone who doesn't pretend like he doesn't know you."

"So it's Leith. I thought as much… I've noticed you both aren't talking to each other as much as you used to."

"I'm acting exactly the same! It's his fault! He just puts up this façade around others, but since we can't ever be alone its up around me all the time as well! Personally, I can't handle it anymore! It's driving me crazy to be treated as if I'm just another Career by him!" I fumed.

"I don't think it's as bad as you think. His gaze still lingers on you a little longer than everyone else. Plus, whenever there's a threat he always finds you and tries to be at your side," Asita counseled.

"That's true… I guess I should be more realistic. There's no place for romance when you're in an arena, trying to kill each other, and only one person can come out alive."

"Nonsense!" Asita exclaimed, "Sure, it's not the _best_ place for romance, but it can still happen. You know what you need! You need to be cheered up! You've been far too angry and depressed lately!"

"I think I have a reason to be angry and depressed," I countered.

"True, but it really doesn't help anyone out. All it does is make everyone else feel bad, and hurts your self-esteem," she countered.

I let out a small laugh, but quickly stopped, "Will you stop trying to cheer me up!"

"I don't think so," she laughed, "I know what will make you happier. The thing every girl loves… Well, okay not every girl, but I can tell you do. You always seemed to be beaming after the prep team was done with you."

I rolled my eyes, "There is no place for makeovers or being pampered in the Hunger Games!"

'There is when one girl wants to cheer up another one."

Before I could reply, Asita moved me forward and got behind me. She fumbled through her backpack, and I saw her pull out one of the torture devices we saw in a room. It was a five pronged device, and from what I could tell it was used to stick into open wounds and then twist and turn it about. I practically leapt away from her, but she held my shoulders down.

"Calm down! The reason I grabbed it is because it's the best thing that can be used as a hairbrush in this arena!"

She ran it through my tangled hair, and I had to admit it did do the job fairly well. She spent several minutes working all the knots out of my hair, and then just running it through my hair. I closed my eyes and just sat there. I did love it when people played with my hair.

She began to separate it, and I could feel her manipulating it. Soon I felt a slight pressure on the back of my head, and she let go. She put it up in some fashion.

Before I could ask what she did, she switched her position so that she was in front of me. I opened my eyes, and saw her pull out some dark substance, along with a red substance.

"Don't worry. It's just some minerals mixed with wax and oil. When you grow up poor in District Eight, you learn how to make your own makeup. Anyways, I had to substitute certain items, but I found almost all the items in the Cornucopia," she explained.

"Why do you need to look pretty in an arena full of bloodthirsty killers," I questioned as I looked at her. Now that she pointed out her secret supply of makeup, I could see that she was actually wearing makeup. She applied it lightly enough so that it looked very natural.

'Two very specific reasons," she commented as she began to apply the makeup to my face, "One is because there are sponsors out there. The prettier I look, the more they will want to sponsor me."

She was right. As of these past two days, she had gotten several sponsor gifts. She was sent that expensive dagger, a small pocket mirror, and a glittery, black hair band to keep a good portion of her hair out of her face. I knew she probably had a ton more money where that came from, but her mentor was going to save it until after the Careers broke up. That was when Asita would need it most.

I almost laughed remembering how Cami and Lucian examined the pocket mirror top to bottom to make sure it wasn't a secret weapon. Since last year when the District Two girl, Isis, mentors sent her weapons disguised as beauty products, Cami and Lucian were both very suspicious of the mirror. Come to find out, it was _just_ a mirror.

Once Asita was done applying the red substance to my lips, I opened my eyes. "What's the second reason?"

She held the pocket mirror to my face and smiled, "For myself. Nothing helps me have more confidence than feeling pretty. Most people probably think it's trivial, but you'd be surprised how much feeling pretty can boost ones self-confidence."

I gasped, and looked at myself in the mirror. It wasn't a huge change, but I could see it. My eyes looked bigger, and my lips more appealing. Asita moved the mirror so that I could see my new hair, and I saw that she made two braids, and then circled them into a high bun on top of my head. Instead of feeling like a tribute in the Hunger Games, I felt like a girl again. A pretty girl.

"It's enough so that the Careers won't notice anything different except that you look more 'alive' so to speak, but not enough so that it doesn't look natural. Plus, you know it's there and, at the end of the day, it's for yourself," she laughed.

"Thank you," I murmured.

"You're welcome! In fact, we can get up extra early every morning and go do our 'makeup' and hair together. It'll be fun!" she smiled.

"Yeah it will be."

"Should we be getting back?"

"Probably," I smiled.

I stood up, and she looped her arm through mine. We began to walk down the corridor, back to the Careers. Before we got within earshot, she whispered, "So… Did I cheer you up at all?"

I laughed, and murmured back, "Yes, yes you did."

And for the first time since I came back into the arena, I didn't feel like everything was so serious. I felt like it was okay to laugh and have a little fun. I actually felt… happy.

**District Thirteen:**

**Alexei's POV:**

"Shit!"

I slammed my fist into the nearest wall and let out another groan of exhaustion.

I was done playing this stupid game!

It's getting near the end of the second day, and I have nothing! I have no food, no water, and no weapons! All I have is my fists, and those do me squat at the moment! I've tried to capture a few tributes! All I wanted was their weapon or their supplies, but each of them has slipped away.

I've chased after the Nine guy twice, and each time he manages to vanish as if he just dissipates into thin air. I also found the boy from Eight and the girl from six today. The boy from Eight managed to find some nice little place to hole up in until I was gone, but the girl from six tried a different strategy.

I found her a little while ago, and I charged her. Instead of running away like I expected, she spun around and leapt at me. She managed to leave quite a cut on my collar bone area, but I flung her aside quite easily. She was about to attack me again when the idiotic Gamemakers sent their mutts after us. They weren't that scary. They were simply a hoard of large black rats with nasty teeth. The thing that did catch my attention, however, was the green liquid dripping from their fangs.

Both of us ran for our lives, and both of us made it away alive. Sadly, we got separated, and now I still had nothing to show for any of my fights!

I leaned my forehead against the wall and tried to even my breathing. I knew everyone back home was watching. They were expecting me to come into this arena and dominate these games. I was always the golden boy back home. The second in command's first born. I lived up to that image extremely well back home. I never let myself freak out, and I was always the level headed one. I tried as hard as I could, and succeeded because of it. Almost everyone thought I succeeded because I was _perfect._

The whole reason I 'succeeded' was to live up to an image they created for me.

Now, what do all those 'accomplishments' have to show for anything! I'm still in the Hunger Games, and I'm still getting closer to death every second. I can already feel my body becoming more and more fatigued because of dehydration. Everyone back home is probably so shocked. They expected both Ayla and I to make it past the bloodbath. They expected us to stay in an alliance together until the bitter end. They expected so much out of both of us and we were failing them.

In some ways, I envied Ayla. Before the Hunger Games, she obeyed all the rules. She stayed in the background and tried to go unnoticed. All she wanted and needed was to be loved by a few select people. Around those few select people, she was completely herself. Around everyone else, she was just the invisible girl.

I _wanted_ that. My entire life I've had everyone's eyes on me. I've been expected to do all these things that I didn't want to do! I wanted to goof off with friends. I wanted to show all my emotions. I wanted to go off the handle and pummel some of the idiots in our District into dust. I wanted to do all these things, but I couldn't.

The ironic thing is that Ayla didn't do everything she wanted to do either. She obeyed the rules because she had to, not because she wanted to.

Perhaps we aren't as different as I once thought. Once she was reaped, she gave up on being good. She wanted to do _what_ she wanted _when_ she wanted. She wanted to prove to the Capitol that she didn't _have_ to obey their rules. Sure, she died, but she died how she wanted to. She died knowing that she finally got to break the rules.

I wanted that feeling. I wanted it so badly.

I shoved myself off the wall and glanced around. Right now, I was in a storage room of some sorts. Masses upon masses of boxes were piled up on top of one another. I had already pried a few of the boxes open, but nothing was inside except different torture tools.

I decided I might as well go towards the back of the room and see if there was anything useable there. I shoved many boxes out of my way, even breaking some open. The boxes seemed to multiply, but I kept looking. There had to be an end to this room!

Eventually, I hit a wall and let out a puff of breath. That was a waste of my time.

I kicked a box in frustration, and it broke open, empty. I noticed it was covering a crawl space in the wall, and I nervously got on my knees.

If I just stumbled upon a nest of those rat mutts I was going to be _extremely_ pissed if I didn't die!

I saw a small light illuminate some sort of room, and I stuck my head farther into the crawl space. I quickly scampered through it and dove into the room. I stood up shakily, and a giant smile spread across my face.

I walked over to a small table that was shoved against a wall in this extremely small room. On the table was a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, and a slip of paper. I quickly took a bite off of the bread, and downed a swig of water.

I picked up the paper gingerly and read the neat, elaborate handwriting.

_Congratulations, tribute, you've found this floors prize! Sometimes, the prize will be something that we can do for you, and other times it will be a physical item. This time, it is the prior. Beside each prize, no matter which one it is, we will provide a small amount of food and water since the water and food in this arena is hidden away. We don't want our prize winner to drop dead simply because he or she needs nourishment! _

_ To continue on, your prize is simple. Once during this year's Hunger Games, you may request a weapon and it will be sent to you. We will deem if the weapon you request is reasonable. Happy Hunger Games, tribute!_

A stuffed the piece of paper in my pocket and cheered. I had food, water, and, soon, a weapon. I smiled up at the ceiling, and waved. I'll play their game, for now. But once I win no more following rules. I'm going to find a way to live my life how _I_ want to live, no matter who is watching.

**District Three:**

**Thomas' POV:**

This was… weird.

It was a good kind of weird, but weird nonetheless. Right now Valhalla and I were camped out in one of the furthest corners of the third floor. It was actually quite nice. At the corner of the floor there was a circular indent that was as big as the bedroom I had in the Capitol.

Anyways, we had spent all day _working together_. Remember, this was the girl who seemed like she couldn't wait to take me down in the arena and rip my throat out. This girl was vicious, self-obsessed, and a little bit _evil_, yet here we were sitting by an electric camp light we had made together. It didn't give off any warmth, but it created enough light to help us see each other. Plus, we weren't worried if other tributes saw the light. If they did, they wouldn't be walking away alive.

I felt slightly guilty for saying that, but it was true. All day today, Valhalla had been setting up traps. This morning she and I were sent a joint sponsor gift. It was a trap making kit, except it also had things to help create electric devices, such as this camp light.

Anyways, these two hallways branching off of this room both had several deadly traps. There weren't a ton, but it was better that we didn't make a lot. We had to get off this floor by tomorrow night, and it would have been a waste of our supplies to make an abundance of death traps. Plus, it would have sapped Valhalla's and my energy.

While she was spending the day making traps, I spent the day making two inventions. One was the camp light, and the other was a remote control camera device. It took me all day to make, but now it seemed almost perfect. Early this morning, I spotted something in one of the piles in the room. I yanked at it, but it didn't come out. I quickly realized it was a camera that they were using for the Hunger Games broadcast. It took me several hours to get it detached, but eventually I overloaded the circuits.

I then repaired any fried wires, and built a simple remote control device. It was big enough to store the camera in, but it was small enough to be able to hide in my jacket. I then fit the camera inside, and spent several hours creating a link between the camera and the remote that controlled the device. I also managed to install a small screen which is where the feed would be transmitted to. I've only gotten it to the point where I can see blurry images in black and white, but that's all I need. If I'm going to use this for scouting ahead or for certain plans, then all I need to know is if I see a person or not. The details really don't matter, and this is probably the best I can do since I'm in the Hunger Games with not a ton of resources.

I glanced over at Valhalla, and saw her leaning against a crate, her hands behind her head, and her eyes closed. Her black hair was hard to make out in the lack of light, but I could just imagine it being its usual tangled mess.

Suddenly, the anthem played. I simply stared at the light, knowing no one had died. The anthem quickly faded away, and we were in silence again.

"Valhalla?" I blurted out.

"What?" she replied.

"Why… Why did you decide not to kill me?" I asked. This question had been branded into my mind for a day now.

"Because you're useful," she said in an almost bored voice.

"It's just… We don't get along very well. This past day we've worked well together because we're both smart, but we don't have any emotional attachments to one another. I'm just curious as to why you would want to keep me around, even if you thought I was useful."

"Some questions are better left unanswered," she replied cryptically.

I let out a sigh and continued to stare at the light. I wasn't used to not knowing _why_ people did things. Whenever I wanted to know why my mom did something, all I had to do was ask and she'd tell me. The same went for my grandma. If I wanted to know why someone else did something, I could usually figure it out or discuss it with someone until they figured it out.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked with a huff.

"How did you know I wa-"

"You furrow your brow when you think deeply about something. Just like m-"

She stopped herself midsentence and closed her eyes again.

"Just like who?"

"My mother," she replied with an edge in her voice.

"You should tell me about your mother," I commented.

Her eyes shot open and she shot me a death glare. "And why, may I ask, would I want to do that?"

"Because we're allies. I'm just curious about… you."

Valhalla let out a sigh, and closed her eyes again. After a minute of silence, I thought she wasn't going to reply, but she surprised me when she began to speak.

"My mother is… a plethora of things. She's logical, strong, and willful. She has a competitive edge and has strong opinions. She's brilliant, beautiful, and _broken_."

"Broken?" I interrupted.

"Yes, broken," she hissed, "My father was…" she paused and I realized for some strange reason she was watching every word she said. "unfaithful. My mother loved him, she really did. They were extremely different, but I think that's what she liked about him. He challenged her. She grew because of him. Sadly, when she found out about his indiscretions, she broke. She had constant emotional outbursts. She never did anything morally wrong, never turned to anything harmful. All she did was cry, and seeing that when I was so young… It shattered my heart to pieces."

I looked at her curiously. That certainly explained quite a bit.

"So you became the rock. You were the one who held it together."

"No, I didn't do anything of the sorts. The only time I was 'the rock' was when my mother was depressed, which only happened once every couple of months. I guess I just didn't want to end up like that. I didn't want to be ruled by emotions."

"So you stopped feeling them?"

Her eyes opened and she rolled her eyes, "If that's how you want to phrase it, then yes. However, I still have some emotions. I just choose to act on logic instead of how I feel every moment."

"That must get kind of… hard. Maybe a little lonely," I whispered.

"I like to keep people at arm's length," she laughed coldly.

"Not everyone's like your father. Not everyone is going to hurt you."

"He didn't hurt me," Valhalla hissed.

"Yes he did. He broke up your family. Believe me; I've been through a similar experience. Except… well my family was broken to begin with."

"Oh yes, our experiences are more similar then you realize," she chuckled darkly.

"What… what do you mean?" I asked.

"Okay, I'm tired of this game," she moaned, "Perhaps we'll even get some sponsors."

"Wha-"

"Think about it, Thomas. Think long and hard about it, and I think you'll come to the same realization I did."

She stared at me, as if expecting me to have some epiphany.

What conclusion was I supposed to come to? Sure, we were similar. We were both intelligent. However, I think that's where it ended. I was quiet, timid, and not very confident. Valhalla was psychotic, deadly, and narcissistic.

Maybe she meant our background. We both grew up with a single mother. Both of our fathers left us. Well, mine left. Her father was kicked out because… he was married and had an affair.

I looked into her eyes, and felt like I was looking in a mirror for two seconds. My stomach began to twist and turn. My mother broke up my father's family. Told the wife when I was six, and Valhalla and I are both sixteen. Valhalla mentioned her parents got divorced when she was six.

"No," I whispered.

"Yes," she laughed, "Think about it. Can't you just see it! Obviously _someone_ did their research and knew I was volunteering this year from hearsay around the District. Wouldn't it just be such a delightful twist to make sure a certain male joined me on this journey?"

She stood up and walked towards me. I understood she was hinting to the fact that the Reapings might have been rigged. In fact, it made sense. If this happened and we both figured it out, then the rating would skyrocket. If one of us died before anything happened, it was no big deal.

She crouched in front of me and said, "I may be a crazy, soon-to-be killer, but one thing is for certain. I believe you're my brother, and I'm taking you to the end."

I could practically hear the gasps and scream throughout Panem.

The people of the Capitol were jumping for joy. Every newspaper and television network would be talking about this. Both of our mothers would be shocked, perhaps desperate, while our _father_ must be surprised we figured it out. Our father that already had one of his children win these games.

"I can't belie-"

"Perhaps we're wrong. Perhaps it's all a coincidence. All I know is that if I'm going to win these games, I'm going to win these games knowing I did everything I could to keep my possible brother alive. Even if I walk out of this and find out it was all a mistake, it doesn't matter. All that matters is here and now."

So, it still didn't change _that_ much. She still expected herself to win these games. She still thought she was better than me… More worthy to live. The only thing that changed was the fact that she didn't have it in her to kill me personally. She just assumed someone else would do it before the Final Two. The sad thing was I didn't hate her for it. I knew she was crazy, but she was my sister. You didn't pick your family…

She took a seat next to me, and I felt something else slightly change. Now that I knew, she was going to treat me like a sibling. Perhaps she wouldn't give up her life for mine, but I knew that she would watch my back. That she would open up to me. That, eventually, she might feel a tinge of grief when I die. Well, _i_f I die.

"One question… Why don't you hate me! I'm the reason you're family is… broken."

She stared right into my eyes and whispered, "It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Hell, even you're mother didn't do anything wrong. All she did was stand up for herself, and save my mother from continuing to be lied to. No, I blame our father. This is his fault, and when I get out of here, I'm finally going to make him pay… One way or another, he's going to regret what he has done to _us_!"

I smiled at her. Okay, we were definitely different. Polar opposites. But, we were two pieces. Two pieces that, if you _forced_ them together, became a whole.

**District Nine:**

**Ace's POV:**

I knew midnight was slowly closing in. I could feel it, but I knew I was safe.

I continued to stare at the Careers. I watched as their chests slowly rose and fell. Leith, who was on guard duty, was fast asleep. I was glad Leith had fallen asleep. Jordana was going to be guarding next, and I knew she wouldn't fall asleep. She was far too smart and serious to do something so foolish.

I tiptoed around the corner, and began to sneak into the Career Camp. I hopped right over Leith's sleeping form. Last night, all the guards on duty had stayed awake, which meant I couldn't use my plan. I glanced down at the sleeping forms to my left and almost smiled. Apollo had Asita in his arms, and her head was resting lightly on his chest. I actually thought they were kind of cute… At least cuter the all the other Careers!

I continued to hop and slink through the dark making as little noise as possible. I glanced at Jacqie, and felt a pang of guilt. I would let her go, but Lucian was actually very smart. She was currently tied to an iron pipe, and was far enough away so she couldn't reach the Careers or any supplies. However, there was a longer chain attached from her body to his belt, and if she moved he would feel it. I could kill her, but that would be even worse. I'd rather kill one of these Careers, but as soon as they died the cannon would fire and they would leap into action.

I slipped by Oceana who was tossing and turning slightly. I suspected nightmares, but who really knew.

I made it past Cami, which was quite a feat. The entire time I swore that she was going to open her eyes and run me through with the spear that was tightly clutched in her hands.

I finally made it to Lucian, and began to crawl. He was propped up against a wall, and I held my breath. I was a mere few inches from his body. I quietly snaked my arm across the floor by his belt. I gripped one of the knives and pulled it slowly out of the loop. The belt had several knives in it, and I doubted he would notice one missing.

He stirred a little, which almost made me scream. However, he continued to sleep and I got the knife out of his belt. I slipped it into my jacket and smiled.

Weapon, check.

I noticed two backpacks near in front of me. I continued to stare at Lucian, and opened the one on the right. I reached inside, and my entire body froze.

My heart began beating several miles an hour and I felt like someone was stabbing me with a thousand knives. I looked at the backpack and pulled my hand out of it.

My hand was now covered in something. It smelled like it was rotting, and tears began to form in my eyes. My curiosity and horror got the better of me, and I opened the bag.

Inside was Sage Hathaway's head.

I felt bile begin to rise in my throat. I had to hold one of my hands up to my mouth to stop myself from crying out.

I quickly wiped the flesh on my jacket, and closed the bag with the head in it. I couldn't leave evidence that I had been here, which meant I couldn't leave any flesh on objects nearby.

I opened the other bag quickly, and took out one bottle of water. I stuffed it in my pocket, and grabbed a few bags of dried fruit. I shut the bag, and began to stand up. I glanced over at Jacqie and noticed her eyes were wide open. I opened my mouth and prayed that she didn't make any noise. Her eyes were pleading with me. She was telling me to help her escape.

I simply shook my head, and began to sneak away. I couldn't help her. I couldn't risk my life for hers. If I wanted to get out of here alive, I had to be smart. Trying to detach a girl from one of the most deadly tributes in the games was not smart at all.

I snuck out the way I came, and took one last fleeting glance at Jacqie. Tears were running down her eyes.

I simply turned my head forward and began to sprint away. I sprinted down the hallway and into a nearby room.

I slumped into a heap behind a shelf. The past two days I had been following the Careers nonstop. I hadn't eaten or drunken a single thing. However, my fatigue was more overpowering than my desire to consume my new supplies. I felt my eyes flutter shut, and I simply smiled. This strategy was dangerous, but it would pay off. The Careers would never find me because I would always be a step ahead of them!

Or behind them, in this case.

My mind thought of Lyric for a second, but I quickly pushed him from my mind. I barely knew the kid, but he was just rude! How dare he call me weak! I'm as strong as everyone else in this arena, in my own ways at least. Sleep was quickly coming, and I had one last thought.

It doesn't matter what people think of me. I'm strong, smart, and young. I was going to win these games. I was going to go home perfectly fine… And _not_ in pieces.

**Review! Okay so three VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!**

**One. I started my SYOT series a long time before the movies. I guess I just expect everyone to know what my districts are, but I'll tell you real quickly what the few we didn't know in the book are in my stories. District Six is medicine, and District Nine is meat packaging. I know that doesn't match the movie, but deal with it.**

**Two. New Poll! Go vote pleeeeeeaaaaaase!**

**Three. I got a several PMs recently, all very kind except one, regarding what I write. Some people are upset that certain tributes haven't shown up enough for their liking, and that I'm playing favorites. Also, one person keeps complaining how in certain chapters there is more of the chapter from one person's pov then another and has asked me to split it up.**

**Here is the deal, my lovely readers. I love to make you happy, really that is the entire reason I write this story. Keyword, I write the story. I'm the one who puts in a lot of the work, and you enjoy it. All I really want is to hear back from you in reviews, and a good portion of you don't, which I don't hold against you. So, if I write from more tribute's pov recently, it's not because they are my favorite. I love all my tributes equally. It just means that either my inspiration is with that certain plot OR that's where the drama is! If you want me to write boring filler chapters about a character who just wanders the hallways, it's not going to happen. I'm going to write what I want to write, and if you don't like that it's too bad. Also, if a certain person who a longer POV, I'm sorry, but it's because I had a ton of things to do from their POV, and my creative side went a little crazy.**

**In other words, I appreciate your input, but when you are literally telling me **_**what**_** to write, we have a small problem. **

**On that lovely note, please review! It would mean the world to me! Oh, and also answer this question. Do you guys like that I have a main word or theme to every chapter? Do you even notice? Just curious!**


	31. Day Three: Part One: Luck

**Day Three: Luck**

**Part One:**

**District Eight:**

**Asita's POV:**

I slowly began to feel myself drifting back to consciousness. I struggled to keep my mind dormant, just wanting to stay asleep for a little longer. I could tell it worked for a little while, but soon my mind was wide awake.

I let out a soft sigh and opened my eyes. It was still fairly dark in the hallway, but I could see well enough to get up and find Oceana. Before I rose from my comfortable position, I spent a few more seconds taking in Apollo's warmth. I continued to listen to his heartbeat and felt his chest rise up and down.

I knew it was one of the most idiotic things I could have done. Getting so close to another person in the Hunger Games is almost like signing your life away. Every day he could die. Every day I was one day closer to losing him, and then where would I be? Broken? Depressed? Emotionless?

The list of things that could happen go on and on, which is why I now relish these few minutes before I get up. I try to memorize the exact way I feel at this very moment and impound it into my brain. Apollo has become my safety net…. Losing him would be… unbearable.

I slowly rose from my position, trying as hard as I could not to wake him up. I quickly grab my backpack, and sling it over my shoulders. I teeter to a standing position, almost falling over on the spot. Being sneaky right after you wake up is far harder then you can imagine…

I step over sleeping bodies until I come across Oceana. There is a lot you can tell about people when they are asleep. They aren't in control of their bodies and they show certain things that you would never be able to see when they are awake. For example, Oceana and Leith are sleeping next to each other, but not cuddling or anything of the sorts. They aren't faced towards one another, but Oceana's hand lingers next to Leith's body. Leith's hands are firmly on the other side of his body.

When I glance over at Cami, I see how lucid her sleeping form is. She looks as if she doesn't have a care in the world, and looks far younger than seventeen. Stark is curled up in a ball with his knees locked against his chest. His entire body is rigid, and he looks as if he is about to start trembling. Oddly enough, Jordana and Lucian sleep almost identically. Both of their bodies are propped up against a wall, and their weapons are clenched in their hands. They appear to be ready to kill someone almost immediately upon waking.

Then there is Apollo. His entire form is relaxed, and he also looks far younger than he does when he is awake. I let out a small sigh and nudge Oceana with my foot. I poke her a few more times before her eyes flutter open. Usually she seems to have nightmares, which is why it was almost difficult to bring myself to wake her from her peaceful slumber.

"Ready?" I whisper quietly to her.

Her eyes light up in recognition, and she nods. I help her to her feet, and we begin to walk through the camp. We make it out easily enough and journey down the hallway. Once we are out of earshot, we begin to talk and giggle quietly. Eventually, we decide we are far enough away, and sit down.

"It's another big day," I sigh as I begin to apply some lipstick.

"Another wonderful day full of Careers and their petty problems," she agrees. We continue to do our hair and makeup, talking about frivolous things. We talk about our favorite clothes back home, some of the fashion, and different people back home that we dislike or like. We both find solace when both of our 'like' lists are short and sparse. After around twenty or so minutes, we finish with our little makeovers and check our reflections in the pocket mirror.

Before I can say anything, I hear someone bark out, "Stunning. You're both just _absolutely_ beautiful."

My head jerks towards the noise, and I see Jordana casually leaning against a wall, axe in hand.

"Is there something you want?" I ask as I eye the axe in her hand.

"Oh nothing really. I was just hoping to catch two runaways that I could easily kill. Turns out I find two beauty queens playing dress up."

"How selfish of me," I mock, "I should have asked you to come along. It was rather rude of me, wasn't it?"

"I'd rather die than play this stupid game with you!" Jordana hissed.

"It's a shame. You could definitely use the help," I quip back.

"I'm not talking about this stupid vanity thing," Jordana laughs, "I'm talking about this little game you're playing!"

It's silent for a few seconds before I begin to reply, "I don't kn-"

"Don't give me that crap, Asita," Jordana laughs coldly, "You don't think I see what you're doing?"

Jordana turns to Oceana and stares her straight in the eyes, "How can you not see past this, Four. Asita is the weakest Career. She already knows I'm coming after her the second I get a reason to. So she's playing little Miss Nice and Happy. She's obviously already become friends with you, and is befriending Stark. If you're on her side, Leith will be too. That means, if it comes down to it, it will be Lucian, Cami, and I versus Asita, Apollo, Stark, Leith, and _you_. Can't you see that she's _using_ you, just like she's using Apollo?"

My mouth opens and I turn to Oceana. That's not true. I'm not _using_ anyone. Oceana needed a friend, and I was more than happy to do that. Stark was feeling out of place and alone, so I tried to make him feel like he was wanted. I'm not doing this for myself…

Before I can say anything, Oceana pipes up," You're wrong, Jordana. I've watched both Asita and you since the Reapings. I know for a fact Asita can be manipulative. I noticed it when she caught you by surprise and made it look like you hit her out of anger."

My mouth opened even wider. I thought for sure no one was watching!

"I know she can do a lot of things, but she's different now. I've noticed what she's like when she is trying to manipulate someone, and she isn't that way around me. She found me yesterday because she was worried about me. From what I've gathered, she just doesn't want to die being depressed and stressed out. She wants to make her allies and herself as happy as possible. What's wrong with that?"

Jordana began chuckling almost hysterically. "What's wrong with that? This is the Hunger Games! The Hunger Games isn't cookies and rainbows! It's a fight for survival! Don't be delusional!"

"It's called being optimistic," I countered weakly.

"Optimistic! You've got to be kidding me! It's called lying! This is all some act that you've put together! It's just a game to you too! Don't act like you're some hero! Some great person! Admit that you're just playing with the tributes and that you're a little who-"

"Just because she won Apollo over and you didn't doesn't give you the right to be a complete and utter _bitch_!" Oceana shouted.

The silence that followed was almost unbearable.

Jordana was angrily gripping her axe while she glared daggers at Oceana. "You'll see. You'll see who the real bad guy here is. I'm going to take Asita down soon enough, and I'd suggest that you don't get in my way."

"I will be in your way because I'm not going to let you hurt my friend," Oceana huffed.

"I'll see you both back at camp," Jordana growled.

She spun around and stormed back down the corridor. After Jordana left, there was a few minutes of silence. We finished our beauty regiment in silence.

"Did you really mean that?" I asked quietly.

"Of course. I don't lie," she said sincerely.

"Oh… I was just surprised," I whispered.

"Why?" Oceana laughed lightly, "You know that we're friends now. You would have done the same thing for me."

"Absolutely, it's just…" I trailed.

"Just…"

"Back home, I've always had to stand up for myself. Everyone judged me. Called me nasty names… I deserved it, but they acted like they knew me and what I was thinking. I had to defend myself and my family on my own…"

Oceana replied, "No one deserves to be judged on gossip and appearance alone."

I felt tears spring to my eyes, and tried to flutter them away. "It wasn't just gossip. They had facts to hold against me. They all knew exactly what I was doing…"

"It still doesn't matter," Oceana growled, "Everyone has done bad things. Sometimes, you have to do bad things to accomplish something good. The point is that it is not okay to judge everyone you see solely based on what you see and hear."

This time the tears couldn't be stopped. They ran down my face, but I forced myself not to start sobbing. "That means more to me than you know."

"We may have only started to become friends, but we're still friends. No one is going to push you around as long as I'm around."

I wiped my tears away. "Is my makeup smudged?"

She quickly wiped a few places on my cheeks with her thumb, and scanned my face quickly. "Not anymore. You look _absolutely stunning_," Oceana mocked.

I let out a small snort, and then we both started laughing hysterically. It really wasn't that funny, but it was something to laugh at. There seemed to be a few things to laugh at in this arena, and both of us were ready to take any opportunity to feel an ounce of joy. That's all I wanted. I wanted everyone to be happy. However, my blood swiftly turned to ice when a single thought crept into my head.

_But you want to live even more. Those two things are eventually going to clash, and you know which one you're going to choose…_

**District Six:**

**Adam's POV:**

I let out a groan as I sat up. I lifted my shirt up and looked at the nasty bruise on my side. How did little Lucy kick so _damn _hard!

"It's about time you woke up," Charlotte yawned, "We should probably get moving."

"It's still fairly early in the morning," I complained.

"This means that a good chunk of the tributes won't be up and about!"

"Fine," I conceded, "I just don't feel like moving around."

"That's too bad because we don't really have a choice," Charlotte sighed.

"I know!" I growled.

She stood up, and reached over to help me up as well. It was the beginning of Day Three, and we were on the third floor. We needed to find that special item.

Before I could get up, both of us heard a deep rumbling and froze. Charlotte gripped her rope and glanced around. Suddenly, it stopped and we both looked at each other with a smile. It had suddenly appeared at my side, and it was a long metal case. It had a large six engraved on it, and I pressed the button on the side of it.

The case slid open, and both of us peered inside of it. I could feel my brow furrowing. What was this?

All I could see were a plethora of metal and leather straps, along with other strips of metal. Charlotte picked one of them up and looked at it from different angles. Eventually, her face brightened up.

"Take off your spiked knuckles."

"What?"

"Just do it," she snapped.

I slipped them off, and she grabbed my left hand. She put it on top of my hand, and began fastening the straps slowly. She had to restart and readjust it twice, but she eventually let go of my hand with a smile on her face.

I held it up in the light and smiled. This was certainly more effective than spiked knuckles. Once the contraption was strapped to my hand tightly, the three long metal strips curved over the places in between my finger. They kept going until they reached a sharp point. Charlotte quickly strapped the other one onto my right hand and helped me up. I sliced the air with my new weapons and beamed.

I had _claws_ now.

"This was a great sponsor gift," I smiled, "Our chances of surviving just increased greatly."

Charlotte smiled at me and replied, "The Capitolian ladies certainly love you."

"Here, take these," I laughed. I tossed the spiked knuckles at her, and she caught them. She slipped them onto her knuckles. They were a little too big for her, but she would still be able to use them.

"In case they ever get past your amazing roping skills," I grinned.

"Oh shut up," she growled playfully as she lightly slapped me across the shoulder.

We continued to laugh and make jokes as we packed our backpacks thoroughly. We slipped them over our shoulders and exited the room we had been staying in.

"Which way?" I asked.

"Uhm… right?" she replied.

I nodded and we started down the hallway to our right. Instead of being our usually peppy selves, we were both dead silent. We knew the Careers would be somewhere on this floor, as well as other tributes. We didn't exactly want to go around alerting everyone within a mile radius where we were. It seemed that noises tended to echo down these long corridors.

We continued to walk around for about twenty more minutes when we heard it. It was a small, almost nonexistent buzzing sound. We crept along the wall and peered down the hallway.

Nothing.

We picked up our pace, hoping that we had gotten lucky and found the item.

We turned another corner, and our eyes widened.

Nope, no luck for us.

The muttation turned around and grinned at us. It was a tall, red skinned creature. Its hair was short and black. It was wearing almost nothing except for a loincloth, which was scary enough. However, two things freaked me out especially. One, it had three eyes and each one seemed to be able to look in a different direction. Two, it was holding two rods that had electricity spiraling and shooting out of them.

The red muttation grinned, sporting two rows of sharp, yellow fangs, and took a step towards us.

Lavender said that the muttations and traps would get stronger, harder, and smarter on the floor that corresponds on what day it is in the games. I guess I just didn't believe her because yesterday we didn't run into any trouble except with Lucy and her alliance.

"When I count to three, we're going to run past it."

It took another step towards us. It's legs were so long that if we tried to run back the way we came it would catch up to us in seconds. However, it might take it some time to turn around.

"One."

The rods seemed to grow even brighter. I knew if one of those things even barely tapped me I would be knocked unconscious. Maybe even… killed?

"Two."

I set my feet apart and squared my shoulders.

"Three!"

Both of us bounded forward. The muttation seemed confused by our plan, but smiled even wider as it noticed we were getting within arm's reach. It let out a small cackle as it brought down both of its weapons on us. I raised my claws and held it at bay. I could feel the sparks from the electric current landing on my face. Even those small sparks were painful.

I glanced at Charlotte as she dove down as the rod came towards her head. She slid across the floor, right between the muttations legs. I saw the rod that had missed her now coming towards me and gulped. However, seconds before the other rod hit me, the weight from his other weapon lessened and I hit the floor. I looked up, and saw a loop of rope around the weapon that was previously being held off by my claws. However, I also saw that the electricity was quickly searing the rope, and I knew I had next to no time.

I scurried across the ground and managed to get behind the mutt. The rope snapped, and I quickly stood up and drove my claws right into the muttations back. Instead of blood or some form of liquid, real fire began to pour out of the muttation. The heat stunned me and I stumbled backwards. Charlotte caught me before I could fall. I blew on my hands, as if that would make them any less hot.

The wounds on the demons back began to heal swiftly, and Charlotte and I glanced at each other. We both dashed down the hallway, away from the muttation that was beginning to turn around to chase us. So far, Charlotte and I had probably been in more fights than any other tribute in this arena. Why were Charlotte and I so unlucky!

**District Ten:**

**Davis' POV:**

I let out a cacophony of gasps and collapse to the ground. I can't… I can't handle this anymore.

Last night I managed to stumble my way up to the fourth floor, but now I can't handle it anymore. I feel the fatigue wash over me and I simply lay on the floor. I haven't eaten or drunken anything since I arrived in the arena. My mentors, obviously, have no money to send me anything.

A sudden wave of nausea comes over me and I have to stop myself from vomiting. I can feel my entire body trembling, and I wipe the sweat off of my forehead. Finally, I take comfort in the coolness of the metal floor and try to place all uncovered skin against it. Sadly, it isn't much since I'm stuck in this jumpsuit.

I shakily move my hands to the sleek, hidden zipper in the front and try to bring it downwards. I continue to tug as hard as I can, making louder whines with each tug. I eventually get it past my bellybutton, and sigh deeply. I try to pull my arms out of the sleeves but it is nearly impossible because the sweat has glued it to my skin. My arms and legs tingle and I continue to try and wipe the sweat from my skin.

I let out more strangled cries and moans. I'm the smallest tribute in the arena, which also means I would be the first to be de… dehydrated? Suddenly, my brain is fuzzy, just like the television at home used to be. Certain words won't come to mind, and I start to forget why I was even trying to get out of this jumpsuit.

My entire body turns ice cold, and I feel myself shivering. I try to reach the zipper, but the shakiness of my arms makes it almost impossible to get a firm grip on it.

Suddenly, I see a blur and I try to focus in on it. It fades in and out, and suddenly I let out a strangled cry.

"Scar… Scar… Scar…" I whisper shakily. I let out more whimpers and I see the blurred Scar turn around. He approaches closer and closer, and I start to flail about excitedly.

"Wa… Wa… Water," I cry out.

"I was wondering what happened to you," Scar sniggers.

"Wa-"

"Oh save it," Scar hisses, "You're going to need your strength."

He reaches into his small backpack and produces a single bottle of water. It is full to the brim, probably because this entire floor had water storage containers. Isn't it ironic how I almost… died… from lack of water even though I'm surrounded by it. Scar must have figured out how to gain access to it. Good ole Scar… He always knows what to do…

Scar slumps to his knees and puts my head in his lap. He smiles at me, and lowers the bottle so it is above my lips. He takes off the cap, and tilts it just enough so a single drop hovers over the edge. I open my mouth and make some sort of guttural noise. Right before it falls; Scar lifts the bottle back up and raises it to his lips. He takes several gulps while I groan. He quickly stands up and my head hits the metal ground hard.

"You're so trusting and naïve. It's almost endearing now that you're on the edge of death," Scar laughs.

I open my mouth to talk, but Scar simply kicks me in the throat. I let out a gasp and get flung back onto my stomach.

"Shut up," Scar yells harshly.

After a few seconds, Scar's angry features change back to that of a taunting villain. "You want to know something, Davis? I _hate_ you. I've hated you since the moment I saw you. You were small, weak, and _loveable_. If it wasn't for you, Sage and I would have made it far in these games. If you would have just left us alone, I could have used her _so_ well! But you just had to ruin everything!"

He paced back and forth, and spoke up again, "Think of it like this. If you hold up a fake copy and the original next to each other, you're going to be able to tell they aren't both real. If the fake is the only one there, then perhaps the person can be fooled. It doesn't matter how good of a manipulator I was! She was going to see which one of us was genuine because you really _were_ genuine!"

I knew if I had enough water in my body, I would be crying right now. Suddenly, a flash of pain flashes through my skull, and I'm hit by an almost blinding headache.

"You show all the signs of dehydration… I could help you… But first, you have to pledge you're loyalty to me."

My brain takes a few extra seconds to process his words, but I begin to nod slowly.

"If I help you, you will follow me no matter what!"

I continue to nod.

Another pain shoots through my side, and I realize within a few seconds Scar kicked me.

"Too bad. I'd rather be _dead_ then help you live!"

Scar begins to cackle loudly. After a minute or so of laughing, he speaks again, "Ah, sweet revenge. You know, I have half a mind to take one of these knives," he pauses. He opens his jacket, and delicately takes out a long knife, "and ram it into your skull. Maybe even slice you up until you bleed to death."

He slinks over towards me and smiles at me. I let out a small whine and try to roll away. He stomps his foot into my stomach and holds me down with it. He raises his knife teasingly and brings it down swiftly.

I let out a noise that a pig makes right before you slice it open, and close my eyes.

I feel no pain, and I open my eyes again. He slips his knife back into his jacket, and I see that there is no blood on it.

"The other half of my mind is telling me to let you lay here and die of dehydration. It think that will be much more painful than me slitting you open. Plus, I won't make any sort of mess. I don't want to be seen by the other tributes as a killer quite _yet_, and being covered in blood doesn't exactly portray the image of a helpless thirteen year old."

He begins to walk away, and I find myself having difficulty breathing.

"Have fun _dying_, Davis. Say hi to Sage for me!" He cackles.

Suddenly, the nausea hits me again and I vomit across the floor. Whether it was from the dehydration or disgust I don't know. I lay in my own vomit, and let my eyes close. I'm going to die. There is no other way around it. I just have to lay here and expect it… I never truly believed trusting the wrong people in the Hunger Games could bring about my death. I'm sorry, Mommy, but I'm not going home. I'm going to go see Daddy soon…

**District Eight:**

**Lyric's POV:**

I licked my lips and tried clearing my throat. Ever since Ace and I broke up on day one, I had been just wandering around. I managed to get to the third floor yesterday, but I have had some issues finding the entrance up to the fourth floor. The one up to this floor was a small, hidden hole-like passage. I was looking for one of those, but for all I knew it could be a giant staircase and I had just been missing it.

I sighed and tried clearing my throat again. I hadn't eaten anything since I came into the arena. However, I did manage to find a small puddle of water yesterday. I had no idea where it had come from, perhaps a leaky pipe, but I drank it. I expected to die from poisoning within the hour, but so far I was completely fine.

Part of me wished Ace and I was still in an alliance. She was resourceful, and I knew she might have been able to find things that I simply overlook. The one thing that completely stinks about living your life in luxury is you don't develop any sort of 'street smarts'. However, the bright side to all this is that my seventeen years of life in Panem have been somewhat enjoyable. I usually had whatever supplies I wanted, and I got to read plenty of great books. Even though I never really developed any deep relationships with others my own age, I still managed to have a good time. Shouldn't my seventeen years of happiness make up for what I'm going through now? Even though others have a better chance than me, only one person gets to win. Most of these kids who have had terrible lives before this will end up dying anyways. In all of this, aren't I the lucky one?

I continue to putts around. What I really need is supplies. Sadly, I don't know where I'm going to find those. If I could get up to a higher floor, then maybe one of those would contain supplies I could use. If I could find a weak tribute, then I could take their supplies. If I wasn't so helpless, then maybe I could actually accomplish something!

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. Breathe in and out. Breathe in and out.

Over the past day or so, I realized I was slowly getting more and more emotionally unstable. It seemed that I was becoming more prone to anger and depression rather than being calm and collected. That was certainly something I wanted to be. If I could just be calm and try to figure this arena out, perhaps I would have more of a chance. However, my entire brain was going too fast. As soon as I was thinking one thought, the next thought would come and it would consume me for a few seconds until another thought came to mind. I found it hard to focus on any one thing. The only constant thought I seemed to have was my need for survival.

Suddenly, I heard a small noise. My eyes flew open, and I listened intently. I heard it again, and I quickly tip toed down the hallway. I eventually heard the quiet noise coming from a room that had the door barely open. It had no window and I quickly glanced through the small crack. I spied the small girl from District Five trying to pull something out of a pile of random electronic parts.

My mind immediately did something it hadn't done in days. It focused on a single subject.

I could kill her. I wasn't very strong, but neither was she. She most likely had supplies, which meant I could survive off of those for several days. Her allies didn't appear to be in the room, which meant they were out scouting the area. That would give me plenty of time to kill her and steal their supplies.

The real question was could I, not physically, but emotionally and intellectually go through with killing her. Could I end a life? Could I do something that Careers do without even blinking an eye?

Before I could question myself anymore, I heard a small squeak and the shuffle of footsteps. Through the crack, I could see the girl staring at me wide eyed as she fumbled through her pile of stuff. I guess the crack wasn't as small as I thought.

I opened the door, slipped in, and slammed it behind me. The girl brought out a bow and notched an arrow in it. I quickly brought out my whip, and griped my chain even harder. Before I could even say anything, whether it state that I wanted an alliance or that I wanted her supplies, she shot an arrow right at me.

I didn't even move, because it went at least a couple feet to my right. She was shaking nervously, and fumbled for another arrow. Something must have shaken her up. Something happened that made it so that she trusted no one… Not even the tribute that got the lowest training score in the 226th Hunger Games.

I glanced at her supplies and then back at her. Whether I killed her or not wasn't of importance right now. I _needed_ those supplies.

She shot another arrow, this time with far better accuracy, but it lacked the speed to hit me before I slowly ducked out of the way. I began to run towards her, and brought my whip upwards. I snapped it down as fast as I could, but she was fast. She rolled to the side and fired another arrow at me. Since I was closer the arrow managed to reach me, but I managed to bend away from its path.

I snapped my whip once more, and this time it whipped her leg. She let out a cry of pain and dashed farther away from me. Before she could notch another arrow, I whipped her on one of her arms, and she reflexively let go of her bow with that hand. I hastily crossed the distance between us and kneed her in the stomach. She let out most of her breath and I grabbed hold of my chain with both hands. She sucked in a deep breath right when I managed to slip behind her.

Before she could react, I shoved the chain against her throat and held her to my chest. I began to strangle her, and she dropped her bow. She tried using both of her hands to claw at mine. I hissed in pain as I felt her take some skin off, but I continued to hold the chain tightly against her throat. Her struggles got less and less.

I knew I had won. However, I realized it was all a trick so that I would let down my guard when she stomped on my right foot with all the weight in her body. I let out a yelp and my grip lessened on the chain. She slipped through the small gap that she now had between the chain and her neck. She stooped over, grabbed her bow, and began to sprint away.

I regained my composure, and leapt at her. My hands wrapped around her ankle, and she let out a screech of surprise. She used her other foot to kick me in the face, but I simply ignored the pain and pulled her foot so that it was under my chest. I swiftly let go, drove my knee into the back of her knee, and grabbed her right arm. I pinned it behind her back, and used my other hand to grab her hair. I pulled her blonde hair as hard and far back as I could. She let out a scream from either pain or surprise, and I pulled even harder.

She managed to land a few good kicks with her other free leg, but I eventually got her on her back. I forced my entire body weight onto her chest, which made it impossible for her to get up. Before she could do anything else, I wrapped my hands around her throat.

Right there and then, I knew I was going to kill this girl. At the end of the day, it was either her or me. There were no exceptions. I either had to kill the tributes weaker than me, or wait until someone else killed them and took their supplies, which left me with nothing. If I could kill all the tributes weaker than me, then I would have enough supplies to survive on my own. I could hide from the stronger tributes, and live off of rationed provisions. It wasn't a perfect plan, or necessarily even a _good_ plan, but it was my only chance to survive longer.

Suddenly, a blinding pain shot through my skull, and I felt myself slump onto my side. I let out a deep, loud groan. I wasn't sure whether I actually heard something snap or crack, or if it was just my imagination. I heard the girl gasping for air.

"We'll live longer if we work together," I heard someone whisper.

I opened my eyes wide enough to see the girl being helped up by her district partner. He was holding a bloody hammer, and I realized with a sickening feel that the hammer was smeared with _my_ blood.

"What about him?" she whispered.

"It looks like he's bleeding quite a bit… We should just leave him be. Grab your supplies and let's go."

I closed my eyes again and groaned. The pain in my skull was unbearable. I could feel the blood on the right side of my face, and I shuddered. I felt my weapons being pried away from my hands, but I didn't have the strength to fight back. Darkness was surrounding me, and I didn't know if I could hold on. I didn't know what was going on anymore. All I knew was that everything that happened before this moment did not matter. I wasn't the lucky one because I didn't win. I was just a loser.

**District Four:**

**Leith's POV:**

"I think we should go this way!"

"This corridor is shorter, which means we'll be more towards the middle of the floor!"

"Oh please, why should we listen to you! You're such an imbecile!"

I continued to clench and unclench my fists. I was using all my willpower and self-control to make sure I didn't blow my top off and kill a few of them. If I didn't know any better, I'd say all the girls were on the same page when it came to their biological clocks. All of them had been screaming and yelling at each other since we woke up. Asita and Oceana seemed to be practically biting Jordana's head off, while Jordana was gnashing her teeth at them like she was a wild animal. As for Cami, she was screaming obscenities at everyone who opposed her, and seemed to be about ready to kill all three of the other girls. I even noticed Jacqie testing Lucian's limits several times today. I mean, Jacqie has every right to be pissed. These other girls, though… I don't know why they are so temperamental.

As of right now, all four of the Careers were standing in the middle of the crossroad, trying to scream over one another. This _would_ be quite amusing if I wasn't part of the Career alliance. I bet the people of the Capitol are laughing their asses off right now!

I glanced at Oceana and simply shook my head. Ever since we came into the arena she's been acting weird. All I'm trying to do is keep us alive. I know I'm acting cold towards her, but it's for her own good! If I was acting all 'buddy buddy', we'd be a target just like Asita and Apollo are becoming. Of course, Asita and her have seemed to become comrades. It's actually quite _annoying_ because, again, that makes us a bigger target. Oceana definitely has no tact when it comes to dealing with the Careers.

I heard another voice added to the mix of screams and I actually groaned. Great, now Lucian was yelling his opinion at all the girls. Apollo rolled his eyes, and walked towards the group, obviously trying to keep the peace.

I glanced over at Stark, and began laughing. Stark was completely under the radar. It seemed like half the time we forgot he even was still around. Right now he was leaning against one of the walls, casually eating a morsel of food, and watching the show.

Suddenly, a cannon went off, and all the shouts died down. It was dead silent, and all of the Careers were glancing at each other.

"Who do you think that was?" Jordana asked.

"Does it matter?" Cami sighed.

"Perhaps we should keep the volume to a minimum," Stark commented mockingly.

Cami sent him a death glare, hating anything that was derogatory towards her, and nodded curtly.

"Maybe we should go down the way Jordana suggested," Apollo commented.

Instead of arguing or saying a snide side comment, Asita simply nodded. Everyone began to migrate towards the shorter corridor. Jordana and Cami took the lead, and we simply began to follow them. I picked up the pace and managed to start walking by Oceana.

"That was certainly interesting," I whispered.

Oceana glanced at me, and gave me a cold glare, "So now you're making fun of me too?"

"I wasn't making fun of any-"

"You know, you're really beginning to _piss me off_," Oceana hissed.

"What did I d-"

"It's what you haven't been doing," she growled.

"Oceana, calm down. I've never seen you act like this," I whispered harshly.

"I'm tired of being calm! I've been _calm_ my entire life! I've been _kind_ and _accepting_ every year since I was born! I'm in the _Hunger Games_! I don't want to be calm anymore!" she said a little louder.

"Being in the Hunger Games is exactly why you should be _calm_! If you want to sur-"

"Stop talking!" she snarled, "I'm so sick and tired of you telling me what to do and how to act! Just _stop_! I want you to _stop_ trying to lecture me all the time! You've been treating me like a child instead of an ally! You frustrate me so much! I just want to… I just want to do something! Punch something! Punch _someone_!"

"Stop letting your emotions rule you."

"Why? So I can become a cold stone like you?"

I felt something inside of me break a little bit. Did she really think I didn't care about her? Did she believe I didn't have emotions anymore?

Before I could reply, Apollo stopped.

"Did you hear that?"

Everyone stopped moving and listened. We had managed to cross several corridors and were at another crossroad.

"There it is again!" Apollo shouted.

No one else seemed to be able to hear anything.

"Don't you guys hear it!" Apollo whispered.

"No, but I see it," Asita said as she pointed.

Everyone's heads snapped towards the direction she was pointing. We saw a small, square like object. It was peering at us, and I noticed a small, almost concealed black circle.

"Is that… a camera?" I asked.

"No. The Gamemakers would never let us see one of their cameras," Cami reasoned.

I took a step towards it and saw it move backwards. It was on some sort of wheels, which must have been what Apollo was hearing. It moved again, and I realized I heard it too. I just had to have been paying attention.

"Do you think it will lead us to this floor's item?" Stark asked.

"Let's find out," Asita mentioned. All of us began moving towards it, and as soon as it saw that it began to move away. It turned the corner, and all of us began running. Oceana, Asita, and I were the first to turn the corner, and we realized that this corridor was especially long and wide.

"Maybe it will lead us to a tribute," Lucian said with complete and utter glee.

I glanced at Jacqie, and saw Lucian was practically dragging her with the chain manacled around her neck.

"Then this tribute is _mine._" Oceana growled and stared right at me.

Oh no. She was trying to prove something to me. Trying to show me that she didn't need me. I sighed. Well, if it was an especially strong tribute, I could always step in. Plus, it most likely wouldn't be a tribute at all.

Oceana was the first to start sprinting as fast as she could down the hallway, and the rest of us followed suit. We kept going and going, and it felt like this hallway would never end. We followed the small contraption around a corner, and most of us groaned again. Another long, wide hallway.

We raced down the hallway, trying to not let the small invention out of our sights. Oceana managed to pull even farther ahead of us.

Suddenly, I heard a gasp. Asita screamed out, "Oceana! _Stop!_" All of the Careers stopped in their tracks, except Oceana.

It was like time slowed down. I followed Asita's horrified gaze to Oceana. She was beginning to slow down, but the momentum made her kept going. Just feet in front of her, I could see a small line of wire. I followed the wire, and saw that it went all the way to the top of the ceiling.

Before I could observe what was at the top, I felt Asita rush past me. Oceana managed to stop, but not before she tripped the wire. The wire snapped, and an object dropped from the ceiling. I heard the hiss of some sort of gas, and some sort of liquid shot out of a beaker. The liquid hit the gas, changed into some sort of fire compound, and spewed itself all over Oceana's head.

Oceana let out a bloodcurdling scream when it made contact, and I realized that it was continuing to spew forth liquid. I began to sprint towards Oceana, but Asita beat me. She tackled a thrashing Oceana to the ground, and started screaming herself.

All of us began to run towards the screaming girls. By the time we got there, the trap had stopped. I knelt down by Oceana's side, and turned her over. I let out a strangled cough when I saw that her face had been burnt by some sort of chemical acid. She was clawing madly at her face, which only made it worse, and I could see the bone that made up her right cheekbone.

"Stop! Stop!" I yelled at her. I grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the ground.

She then started to scream words, "Make it stop! My face is one fire! Make it stop!"

"It's not on fire!" I yelled back.

She just continued to scream those two sentences over and over again. I glanced up at Asita, and saw that the chemical had hit her too, but it only hit her near the top of her forehead. It didn't look too painful, and it was easily covered up by her bangs.

After thirty second, Oceana began to convulse.

"Everyone, we need to continue to follow that device! Let's go and watch for traps!" Cami ordered.

"I am _not_ leaving Oceana!" I roared.

"She's as good as-"

"You finish that sentence and I swear this spear will be skewering your _heart_!"

The only sound is Oceana's moans and screams. Cami nods, and everyone gets up and leaves. Asita, however, stays on the ground and scoots closer to Oceana.

"Leave," I order.

"She's my friend. I'm not leaving her," she whispers.

She begins to stroke Oceana's hair, and that seems to make her pained cries less loud. I simply try to rub soothing circles into her hand; just liked I did that night when she was sobbing. I just want to make the pain go away.

"This is your fault," I hiss at Asita.

"What?"

"You noticed that device! You didn't tell her to stop soon enough! You-"

"Stop," I hear Oceana whisper.

I glance down at her, and see that the pain is less intense now. "I want both of you to go. I can already… already feel myself slipping…"

"No," I whisper.

"I want you to know that I love you both dearly. Don't… don't let Lucian or Cami win… Okay?"

She begins to move her chest up and down. I assume it is her form of laughing.

"The chemical must work its way through wounds and blood. It must also be a poison…" I whisper.

"I love you too… Please, you can't go!" Asita cries. I glance over at her, and see tears beginning to run down her face. I try to find a way to make tears come to my eyes, but they stay completely dry.

Oceana simply smiles, which is quite gruesome looking. Her cannon booms and I find that now tears come to my eyes. They pour over, and I simply can't contain them.

"You couldn't even tell her that you loved her! You talked about the chemical that was _killing_ her!" Asita yells angrily.

"Shut up! Don't you dare sit there and judge me!"

"I'm… I won't because Oceana wouldn't have wanted it that way."

Both of us continue to cry, but I quickly take her supplies and sling them over my shoulder. I get up, and begin to walk away. Mourn later. Right now, I'm going to kill those bastards who set up that trap. That was _not_ a Gamemaker's trap. That was made by a tribute!

I turn around, and see Asita quickly slipping off Oceana's seashell charm bracelet, her token, and putting it in her pocket. She whispers something to her corpse, and gets up. We both begin to run towards the end of the hallway. We dodge the rest of the traps, and realize that there was enough to kill at least half the Careers. The only reason we didn't run into them was because we stopped and thought. Usually, when a Career goes down, the rest of the Careers keep running. The only reason this was any different was because Asita had noticed the trap before it had been sprung.

When we make it to the end of the hallway, we find the rest of the Careers in an alcove. It is the corner of two other hallways, and I automatically know that other hallway is full of traps as well.

"Is this their camp?" I asked.

"I think so, but I can't find the tribute anywhere," Lucian complains.

"The tribute used that contraption to lead us here. They were trying to kill us." I whispered.

"Bingo," Jordana growled.

Apollo walked over, and took Asita in his arms. "I'm sorry for your loss," he whispers to me.

I feel my eyes begin to sting, but I begin to stride over to the alcove.

"They're here! And they're going to die!" I barked. I grip one of Oceana's spears, and stab it into a large pile of parts. I continue to beat down different objects. Finally, I get to a large bookshelf. I quickly tip it over, expecting to find another hiding place.

Nothing.

I look at the large bookcase, and realize it was extremely tall. I immediately look upwards, and see two tributes on top of a beam on the ceiling. They used to bookcase to reach the ceiling!

Before I can yell out to the Careers, the girl jumps down and lands right on top of me. She grips my hair, and brings out a knife. I feel her press it against my throat. I can tell she is trying to slit it open, but I quickly throw her off of me. She crashes into a large pile of parts. The boy jumps down after her, knife in hand, but I swat him away like a fly.

I realize that they are the tributes from District Three and it all makes sense. The small contraption and the traps. The exact kind of strategy two brainiacs would think of.

"They're mine to kill," I growl.

I begin to stalk towards them. The girl gets up and brandishes her knife. She also pulls a case out of the pile, and opens it quickly. She pulls out two beakers, and hands one to her partner.

More chemicals.

Before I can get any closer, Cami put her arm out in front of me.

"No. You're not killing them."

"_What_?"

"If they can orchestrate such a scheme, I want them in the Career alliance," Cami smirks.

"No!" Asita and I yell out at the same time.

"Yes. I'm the leader, and I say that we can use their talents!"

"They killed Oceana!" I howl.

"So? Talent is talent. We need them, and I'm not going to let you're stupid grudge hold us back."

"What if we don't want to join," the boy mumbles.

"Then I let Leith kill you. You're choice."

There is a few seconds of silence until the girl replies, "Fine, we'll join your alliance. I'm Valhalla and this is Thomas."

"Oh, I know who you both are. I'm just shocked either of you had real talent," Cami laughs.

"This isn't right…" I growl.

"Too bad. If you try to leave, we'll kill you. If you try to kill them, we'll kill you. Learn to submit and accept commands!" Cami snarls.

I glance over at them. They just got lucky. Any other Career leader would have killed them nice and slow. Cami just has to have her perfect, large alliance.

I open my mouth to argue, but I suddenly freeze. I glance down at the ground, and see water beginning to spread across the floor. All of us look at each other. The water, ever so slowly, begins to rise.

The floor is flooding.

**Review!**

**Epilogues: Oceana- I loved you oh so much! You were an amazing character, and I detested killing you off… Thank you hollowedoutheart for submitting her :D**

**Okay, so here is why I haven't updated in forever. Life. Do any of you know that time when you have a month and half of school left, and every single high school teacher tries to cram in four months of work? Yeah, that's what I'm going through right now, which means so much homework every night! Also, here is my schedule for the next month and a half, and why you will get maybe one or two updates. **

**In three weeks I have finals. The day after school gets out, I go to New York for a week. The day after I come back from New York, I go to Seattle for two weeks. Then I come back, and I have a summer paper and test due in two weeks. And I have to have fifteen hours of service hours during the summer. So yeah, busy busy busy. **

**Also, to all of my lovely people who read my stories and I also read yours, I will try to get around to reading and reviewing. Not tonight because I wrote all of this today and have a ton of homework to do and tests to study for, but sometimes soon! Also, if I don't get around to it for awhile, please don't hate me! I'm trying the best I can! **

**So, yes, please review and tell me what you thought of this (hopefully) awesome chapter!**


	32. Day Three: Part Two: Duty

**Day Three: Duty**

**Part Two:**

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth's POV:**

Let the frenzy begin.

I let out a long series of high pitched cackles as I watched the video screens.

This morning I finally managed to find the room I was seeking. The control room was hidden behind a large shelf full of tools. It took quite a long time to knock the shelf over, but it was worth it. The reason I suspected that the control room was behind it was because on the map their seemed to be a vacant space between two rooms. I had already searched everywhere else, and it was my last hope.

I was so glad that I was right with my guess.

I spent the better part of the morning figuring out how to work the controls. I was certainly no computer wizard. In fact, my only experience with high tech electronic devices was in the Capitol. So, I used my amazing method I like to call "slamming my fist into every key until something happens".

I found out how to change the screens above me to different cameras. I figured out how to mess with the temperature. I figured out a plethora of random things. However, it wasn't until I figured out how to control the water regulation that I was truly happy and content.

I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to find some way to show the Capitol that I wasn't out for the count yet. I had to do something that they would show on the recaps of the games, no matter who won. I had to do something that would mess with the tributes minds. Most of all, I had to do something that showed the Capitol wasn't always in control.

So I decided to flood the arena.

It was simple, really. I forced the computer to put high pressure on a few water storage devices. I then commanded it to force water into it, even if it was full. It took a couple minutes, but with the constant force from water trying to fit into the already full devices and the high pressure, the glass cracked. Four tanks near the entrance from the lower floor shattered, and sent water crashing everywhere. I continued to force water to spew forth from the broken devices, which kept a constant flow of water going down to the third floor.

I knew that it wouldn't do much. The Gamemakers would find some way to stop it from flooding the entire arena. In fact, they might already have found a way to cut the water and are just waiting to see what comes from my actions.

A sudden flash of movement caught my eyes, and I glanced at the monitors. The entrance that led up to here was actually quite clever. It was literally a hole in the wall. It appeared to be just a large dent, but if you inspected it you found a small latch. It opened, and you had to crawl through until you reached a set of stairs. This being said, water was streaming through that hole, telling all the tributes that it was the entrance to the fourth floor. However, it would be hard to crawl through now, and eventually tributes would have to swim through it to get to the stairs.

Have fun, Cami.

Anyways, crawling up the stairs was a soaked Alexei. He looked _extremely_ pissed off, and was clutching his weapon like a mad man. I looked at it, and my jaw almost dropped. It was sleek, deadly, and black as midnight. It had a long, staff-like handle, and on each side of the handle was a large blade. A double sided sword! Where did he get that! He didn't have any sponsors, and that was not in the Cornucopia.

A shiver went down my spine when I realized that it must have been the 'special item' of one of the floors.

I looked at my old ally and glared. I _wanted_ that weapon. If I combined that efficient weapon with my map to the arena, I wouldn't be able to lose!

A sudden idea sprung into my mind, and I quickly began pounding different keys on the keyboard. Suddenly, the temperature began to drop and I smiled. I quickly stared at Alexei, and noticed he swiftly began to shiver.

Let's see how long the waterlogged tributes can last before they get hypothermia.

Another cackle ripped out of my throat. Okay, these plans might only cause inconveniences for all the tributes, but they were _annoying_ inconveniences. I bet the Capitolians were eating this up!

My eyes flickered to another movement, and I noticed Scarlett tip toeing across one of the screens. Yes, I had noticed that little wretch had stolen the supplies I had hidden. I internally cursed myself for leaving them behind, but I wouldn't have been able to carry them. If I had kept them, I most likely would still be searching for this room because I wouldn't have been able to cover enough ground.

The point was; I was going to get that little twerp back somehow. Well, at least I was going to try to. If he died before I could, it wasn't a big deal either.

I gulped and shook my head. Since when did I not _care_ if someone died or not. The answer rang through my skull. I had stopped caring since Devon died.

If Devon, one of the people who deserved to live most of all, was dead, why should I care if others who deserve death live or die? The only thing I care about anymore is making it as far as I can. Of course I still want to kill the Careers, but I have my priorities straight now. My life is far more valuable than theirs. I want to kill them, but as long as they die, shouldn't that fulfill what I came to do? Their deaths, no matter how it happens, signify that my sister's death is justified. As long as a Career doesn't win this year, I did what I came to do.

All that was left was my duty. My duty to myself. My duty to win these games for not just myself, but for all the tributes that have ever died by the hand of a Career.

**District Seven:**

**Lucian's POV:**

"Everyone, calm down!" Cami shouted.

A few seconds prior to this command, everyone was shouting ideas about what we should do. No one wanted to die by drowning in this rat hole. It was such an undignified way to die.

"We'll split up and try to either find the entrance to the fourth floor or the source of the water. Once a group finds it, they should scream and shout until the rest of us come running. Is that clear?" she screamed.

Everyone nodded, and she began to speak again, "Here are the groups, no arguments. Group Alpha will be Lucian, Jacqie, and myself. Group Beta will be Apollo, Leith, and Thomas. Group Omega will be Stark, Jordana, Asita, and Valhalla. If anyone, and I mean _anyone_, doesn't come back with the group because of being murdered by a fellow Career, then that Career will also be put to death. Is that clear?"

Her glare was fixed on Leith and Asita, saying if either of them touched a hair on Valhalla or Thomas' head, they would be murdered. Everyone nodded, surprisingly not arguing.

This part of Cami's plan was ingenious. She split up all the inner pairs and alliances so that no one would think of running away from their group. Cami was quite the clever girl. Well, except for the fact that she let the pair from District Three join our alliance. Did she really think that was going to keep us unified? They were smart enough to find a way to pull a fast one on us, most likely leaving one of us dead. Even though I love death, I don't particularly like _needless _death. There's no reason why we can't protect our allies' lives.

Cami immediately began to walk down one hallway, while the other two groups walked down the other. I dragged Jacqie along, and she made a small whimpering sound. I glanced over my shoulder and flashed her a smile.

Her hair was in complete disarray, and her skin was marred with cuts. Every hour she began to look more and more like an animal. Yet, sadly, she was resisting. She only did it in the small ways. Biting my hand a little too hard when I fed her food. Hesitating for a few seconds after I motioned for her to move. She did many small, rebellious things, thinking I didn't notice.

Oh, I noticed, and I was just going to try harder and harder to break her.

After at least a half hour of searching, we still didn't manage to find anything. The water was slowly rising, and I knew it wouldn't reach the ceiling before midnight. However, it would eventually get up to the point where it would slow our walking and running speed considerably. That would definitely be a problem either in a fight or in finding the way up to the next floor.

After we had searched another room for the entrance up to the next floor, Cami began to walk towards the door that led back to the hallway.

"Wait," I commanded.

She spun around, and raised her eyebrow. I glanced over at Jacqie, and swiftly dragged her over to a metal pipe. I tied her chain tightly to the pipe, and tightened her gag. I also brought out two pieces of cloth that I ripped out of one of my backpacks, and stuffed one in each ear. She could still hear, but she wouldn't be able to make out every word of our conversation.

I walked over to Cami, and stood toe to toe with her. Compared to me physically, she was small and fragile. Her head only reached up to my chest, and her skin was smooth, just like all the District One tributes. Unlike the District Two tributes, they never had scars marring their skin from training. However, I knew that her brain was fast, and that she was anything _but_ weak and fragile.

"So far, you've barely made any mistakes when it comes to leading the Careers. Yet, you let in two rats from a weak district. All it's going to cause is trouble, don't you see that!"

Cami broke out into a small smile and laughed lightly, "Oh, I know."

My eyes widened and I sputtered, "You _knew_!"

Before I can say anything else, Cami walks past me and casually begins to walk around me in circles. "Who would you say is the most skilled Career?"

"Jordana," I replied without hesitation.

"The stealthiest?"

"Stark."

"The fastest?"

I thought for a second, "Well, it used to be Oceana, but probably Apollo now."

"The strongest?"

"Leith."

Cami nodded and looked at her nails, flexing and curling her fingers as she walked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked, completely baffled.

"Where does that leave me?" she asked.

"You're the smartest," I replied.

"Exactly, but would that help me in a fight against any of the other three Careers?"

"No?" I almost asked.

"Oh Lucian," she sighed, "it's almost cute how slow your brain is."

I felt anger begin to boil inside my chest. Usually, when someone insulted me I tried to bash their skull in. Yet, for some reason, whenever Cami demeaned me I just let it slide.

"You want to know _why_ I let the District Three tributes into the Careers?" she smiled wolfishly.

"Why?"

"Because I could _care less_ about this alliance. I want there to be chaos and hatred."

I stood, shocked.

"You're the leader of the Careers! This is your safety net! This is what is supposed to get you to the end of the games!" I argued.

"The leader of the Careers is always the biggest target. So, I had to make myself the smallest target," she laughed.

I shook my head. "I'm completely lost."

"Let me spell it out for you, whelp," Cami giggled, "I knew this alliance was going to break down soon on the very first day. This year, we don't have a lot of followers. Jordana and Leith are both natural leaders. I can tell they hate following me, and would be looking for an opportunity to take me down at any second. So, I decided to use my brains and get rid of the competition."

"I-"

"Don't interrupt!" she hissed, "As I was saying, I'm not as fast as Apollo. I'm not as skilled as Jordana. I'm definitely not as strong as Leith, and I'm about as quiet as a lion. This meant I needed a plan. My original plan was to lead the Careers and keep them together, but to also create strife so no one would ever cross me. I soon realized people would always cross me, no matter the amount of drama."

She stopped pacing and stared me straight in the eyes, "If Valhalla and Thomas kill a Career in their sleep, than it only benefits me. Jordana only wants to kill Asita. Leith has it in for the District Three tributes. Apollo will defend Asita with his life, and Stark is too clever to hold petty grudges. The reason why I let the District Three tributes into the alliance was to distract Leith. When the Careers break down, all of these tributes will be fighting. That will give me plenty of time to get away with plenty of supplies to spare. Oh and here is where it gets better. Even if no one dies in the Career break down, it's still okay! Jordana will continue to hunt Asita down, and Leith will only have his sights set on killing the tributes from Three. They will completely forget about me, and it will also take out my major competition."

My jaw dropped wide open. "You're… you're…"

"Brilliant," she completed, "a genius. Perfect. Any of those words will suffice."

She then started laughing, and I couldn't help but chuckle as well. Cami was playing all of the Careers. I should be mad, but I only find it hilarious. We feel only what she allows us to feel. She could have let Leith murder the tributes from Three. She could have let Jordana and Asita duke it out awhile ago. But, if she let that happen, when the Careers broke down later she would be a target. She wouldn't have any insurance of living past the Career breakdown. She's the master manipulator.

After our laughing subsided, one question was burning into my skull, "Why did you just tell me all of this?"

She smiled at me, and walked closer to me, "Because when the Career breakdown happens, I'm taking you with me. I lie to you and say that I trust you, because I don't, but I do think you're useful."

"I don't like to be used," I snarled, anger almost exploding out of me.

"Oh _really_," she cackled. Before I could even think about what she meant by that, she forcefully grabbed the back of my neck and smashed her lips to mine. I let out a small gasp, and she took that opportunity to slither her tongue into my mouth. The kiss was steely, cold, and rough. There was nothing loving about it. It was a mixture between passionate and mechanical. Her hands slid up and down my chest, and she jumped up and wrapped her legs around my hips. She continued to kiss me in a forceful way. I tried to fight for dominance, but she always won.

After a minute or so, her body disappeared completely and I opened my eyes. She was a few feet away from me now, and was wiping her lips off. "Are you still sure you don't like being used?"

I let out a small growl, and glared at her.

She just started laughing and snarled, "Don't forget who's in control here, Lucian. I know you're strong, and I know you're not stable. That doesn't mean for a _second_ that you're not _mine_. You're _mine_ to use and you're _mine _to control."

With each word she got a little closer until we were toe to toe again. With the last word that slipped through her mouth, she raised her hand and raked it down my arm. Pain blossomed through my arm, and I couldn't help but shudder.

It felt so _good_.

"I'll play you're little game, for now," I growled.

"That's all I ask," she cackled.

Before I could reply, I heard a bloodcurdling scream. A scream that I didn't recognize. Cami and I looked at each other and smiled. It was time for us to perform our duty. Our duty to hunt down and kill every tribute that gets in our way!

**District Ten:**

**Charlotte's POV:**

A scream of complete and utter horror left my mouth as the shock stick was slammed into Adam's body.

Adam went flying past me and was slammed into a wall. We had managed to get stuck in a large room with this muttation. This was the only room with the doors unlocked. The Gamemakers obviously locked all the other doors because the mutt wouldn't have been able to follow us into those rooms. This place, however, had two entrances, both with large metal doors. This room was obviously some sort of manufacturing plant where all the parts were made. It was huge and open, but it also had plenty of machines so that you could zig zag and hide. We managed to hide from the mutt for a little bit, but it eventually found us.

I was tempted to rush over to Adam, but I knew turning my back on this thing would be a bad idea.

It smiled at me with the same yellow rows of fangs, and I almost cringed. I began to spin my lasso, and glared at the mutt defiantly. If I was going to die, then I was going to die defending Adam. No way was I going to leave his unconscious body here to be devoured by this monster.

The monster began to lumber towards me, but, suddenly, the door was slammed open. Actually, both entrances were slammed open. Cami and Lucian sprinted into the room, weapons ready. I almost threw up when I saw Lucian practically dragging an injured Jacqie behind him. They both stopped, however, when they saw the gigantic mutt standing before me. Two tributes ran through the other door. The girl from District Nine was being chased by Lucy. Both of them froze as well.

Suddenly, both of the entrances slammed shut, and I heard bolts clicking into place.

The Careers tried opening their door, and Lucy tried hers as well. Both were locked.

The girl from nine, however, took this opportunity to get away from her pursuer, and dove into the maze of machines.

The mutt turned its head around, and smiled at its new toys.

We weren't going anywhere until this mutt was dead.

I swiftly spun around and sprinted to Adam. While the mutt was distracted, I slid Adam's arm over my shoulders and dragged him away. We managed to get at least ten feet away before I heard the muttation let out a roar. It began charging away from us, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I frantically stuffed Adam's unconscious body between two machines, hoping no one would spot him.

I moved over a few feet so that I was by a smaller machine, and stood on top of it.

Right now, the mutt was furiously attacking Lucian. Cami found out the hard way that when you stabbed the mutt it spewed fire. She seemed to be okay since she used a spear to attack it, but her spear was clearly damaged. Lucy was watching the scene unfold with a smile on her face.

The girl from District Nine was nowhere to be seen, and was obviously hiding somewhere.

Lucy spotted me, and her eyes narrowed considerably.

Well, looks like someone was still a little peeved that we attacked her alliance…

I guess her alliance isn't existent anymore since I saw her look at Jacqie and just turn away. She obviously didn't care that Jacqie was captured by Lucian, and that frightened me.

Lucy began sprinting towards me, and I gulped.

I frantically hopped down from my perch and ran away from Adam's body. If she found _Adam_ he'd be dead within seconds.

I continued to run, until Lucy cut me off at the intersection of two aisles.

"Where's that idiot of an ally," she hissed.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I sneered.

"Yes, yes I would!"

She leapt across the space between us. I swiftly raised my left fist and sent it towards her face. She managed to spin out of the way, but I still dug the spikes into her shoulder.

She fell to the ground, but scrambled up into a fighting position quickly. However, by then, I was sprinting away.

I ran straight towards the muttation, my feet splashing in the water. Frankly, Adam and I hadn't had time yet to worry about the water. This mutt was far more dangerous than a small leak.

Once I got closer to the muttation, I realized Lucian and Cami were making faster work of it then Adam and I had. Lucian was taking the bulk of its attention, blocking all of its attacks with a sword in each hand. Cami was racing around it, jabbing and slicing it in random places. She was looking for a weak spot, but I realized that all the wounds she was giving it was tiring it out.

My eyes landed on Jacqie and I noticed how she was slowly trying to loosen the chain that was currently tied to a large metal machine. I was about to run over to help her undo it, when I felt a sudden amount of weight hit my back.

I was sent flying forwards, and my face collided with the ground. I frantically looked up, and saw a dark dagger slicing through the air that my head had been just a few seconds prior. I rolled over to my side, and noticed the girl from District Nine was lying by my side.

She saved my life.

I swiftly jumped to my feet and began to swing my rope around in tiny circles. Lucy glared at me, and got on all fours like a feral beast. Before I could process this new development, she charged towards me. I threw my rope, and managed to snag it around her neck. I pulled it as hard as I could, and it immediately constricted around her throat.

By now she was a mere few feet away from me. I launched myself out of her way and pulled the rope as hard as I could. Lucy let out a strangled howl as the rope snapped her neck backwards and her feet and arms were taken out from underneath her. She thrashed around and gnashed her teeth, all the while howling and screaming. I continued to try and strangle her, but she finally realized what she might be able to do to escape.

The girl from District Nine was on her feet now, but she wasn't paying attention to Lucy. She was dodging the blows the mutt was trying to deal to her. Ace was flipping and twirling about, barely dodging each attack. The two Careers were trying to find a weak point on the creature, but nothing seemed to work.

When the girl twirling right in front of Lucy, she grabbed the girl's ankle and held on with all her might. The girl fell to the ground, and Lucy pounced on her. Lucy scratched bit the girl, and all the girl could do was try to get out from underneath Lucy. I began to see blood seeping out of the newly inflicted wounds that were on the girl's arms and face.

Lucy was beginning to lose her steam, but because of her constant thrashing and moving she had been managing to get in quick breaths of air. I knew that if I didn't do something, either Lucy or the muttation would find a way to severely injure the girl who saved my life.

I ran towards Lucy, and swiftly brought my fist down on the same shoulder I had punched several minutes ago. Lucy let out a howl, but in response firmly clamped her teeth down on my extended arm.

Lucy seemed to be more of an animal than a girl!

I tried to shake her off, but it was to no avail. Lucy continued to claw at the struggling girl below her, while I noticed the girl was trying to free her knife that was firmly trapped under Lucy's leg. I knew that only way that I was going to get this girl off of me was to let go of my hold on the rope so that I could unhinge her jaw from my arm.

I knew it would make me lose my advantage, but it was something I had to do.

I let go of the rope, and brought my fist down towards her head. However, Lucy felt the pressure being released and anticipated my move. She let go of her hold, and ducked her head down. I missed my mark, and only hit air. Lucy scrambled off of the injured girl, and untightened the rope around her neck. She dropped it, dove for her knife, and sprinted away from the battle. She disappeared into the mass of machinery and I bended over and grabbed my weapon.

The girl quickly scrambled to her feet and readied her knife. I glanced over at her, and noticed she was observing the muttation.

After what seemed like a few minutes of watching the Careers battle the giant mutt, I heard her mutter, "It's too tall… They can't reach its neck…"

Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me and spun around. I sent my fist flying towards the figure, but it caught my arm in mid-punch.

"Now, now, none of that," Adam joked lightly.

I felt a giant knot of tension disappear from my stomach, but I still glared at him. "About time you made it to the party. I've had to do all the work so far."

"Can you get your rope around its arm?" the girl from District Nine asked.

I quickly shifted my attention from Adam to the muttation. "I can try…"

I redid my lasso, and began to spin it in small circles. I waited and bided my time, and sent it flying at the perfect opportunity. It went right over its shock stick and landed firmly on its left arm. I quickly tightened it and was ready to pull as hard as I could.

"Not yet. Wait for me to tell you to pull," the girl commanded.

I nodded, and stared at the muttation. The mutt had now noticed that its left arm was more constricted and sent a bone chilling snarl in our direction. It turned around, and raised its right arm up high. It swung it in a downward arc, and I began to pull.

However, I stopped myself, heeding this girl's advice. I knew that if I pulled now, the two shock sticks would collide and the attack would be blocked. Still, I trusted that this girl was smart enough to know what she was talking about.

It kept coming towards us, and I thought I could even feel the sparks when I heard her yell, "Pull and duck!"

I dropped to the floor, and pulled the rope as hard as I could. The shock stick went right over our heads, barely missing us. However, the momentum kept the right arm swinging and the left arm was suddenly held out towards us. The shock stick was slammed into the left arm, and the muttation let out a screech that made me cringe. It fell to the ground dazed, but not unconscious.

"Hurry! Someone cut off its head!" the girl screamed.

Genius.

The girl knew that the only way we were going to kill it was if we detached its head from its body. Of course, we couldn't reach it because it was so tall. This girl was obviously smarter than I thought she was in training.

Lucian ran over to the mutt and drove his swords into the mutt's neck. It spewed forth an intense fire, but Lucian continued to cut. I glanced out of the corner of my eye, and noticed Lucy was standing by the exit. It hit me that as soon as the mutt was dead that the doors would be unlocked. If we were out of here the second they were unlocked, we would most likely avoid a fight with the Careers.

I kicked Adam in the shin to get his attention, and sprinted towards the other exit. I jumped over the mutts long legs and hurtled right past a stunned Cami. I heard the die of the constant stream of fire, and knew that the head must be detached. I looked behind me to see Adam right behind me, but that the girl from District Nine had disappeared.

I ran past Jacqie, knowing I didn't have enough time to untangle her from her chains. I slammed the door open and sprinted into the hallway and continued to run. I ran and ran; occasionally making sure Adam was still behind me. Even when I knew we weren't in danger anymore, I continued to run. I had a duty. That duty was to live.

**Head Gamemaker's POV:**

**Lavender's POV:**

"It's a shame no one died in that room or because of that mutt. Peach spent so much time making him," I heard Remus whine.

"Remus," I began as sickeningly sweet as possible, "Will you please send the request for Muttations 139A to Peach? We need them by tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am!" the eager Gamemaker shouted as he rushed out of the room.

I was surrounded by imbeciles.

I saw the Hunger Games for what it really was. It was a beautiful piece of art. Every tribute who died, every single event that happened at every second of every day was just another stroke of paint on this canvas. As the Head Gamemaker, it was my duty to manipulate the strokes so that the final picture was as magnificent as it could be.

Still, I've come to learn that manipulating the canvas too much took away from the beauty.

People said that the Head Gamemaker chose the winner before he or she was even sent into the arena. Perhaps my predecessors did that, but I can honestly say I let luck take control of who wins or loses. Do I sometimes send mutts after certain tributes, or cause certain events to happen to influence who fights whom? Of course, that's my job! However, I never, _ever_ fight a tributes battle for them. The only time I ever make sure a tribute is killed or protected for a certain time is when the President orders it.

I glanced at one of my monitors and smiled. Ruth was definitely the wild card this year. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that she could cause a catastrophe of the proportion that she did. Yes, I had that control room built in the arena. I had control rooms in every floor that involved distributing and controlling certain substances. I assumed that a District Three or Five tribute would find it and use it to maybe spring a trap or gain some supplies. I never thought that someone would figure out a way to cause a flood!

It was actually a pleasant surprise, and it was easy to manipulate it in such a way that it looked like we had planned it like that all along. All it took was a few simple keystrokes. We had a glass pane cover up the entrance from the second floor to the third floor so that the water could continue rise on the third floor. Then we began to pump water discreetly from several other locations, making the water rise faster than it would have.

My eyes wandered to the next monitor, and I frowned. Sadly, everyone seemed to be able to make their way to the fourth floor quite easily. Shortly after Alexei stumbled up to the fourth floor, Hawk snuck his way up the entrance. After him, Winnifred and Admyer sprinted up to the fourth floor.

Speaking of Winnifred and Admyer, they were certainly quite the surprise. I was adamant that Lyric was going to kill Winnifred. What a surprise it was when Admyer smacked him upside the head with that trusty hammer of his. From what I could tell, their alliance was based strictly on benefits. Neither one of them trusted the other, nor did they seem to particularly like each other. They both saw it as an opportunity to further themselves in the game, and decided to take it.

I knew there was a reason why I kept Winnifred alive.

Well, besides my intuition, the President ordered it. President Raven didn't want our dear Lucy to kill anyone. Lucy was strictly in the arena to do our bidding. She was supposed to leave the killing to the _actual_ tributes. Now, we could always order her to kill another tribute if we wanted too, but, as of now, we just wanted her to survive.

Speaking of Lucy, my eyes spotted her entering the fourth floor as well. Right on her heels, in the shadows, Ace walked behind her.

Ace was certainly a tribute who kept me interested. So far, she had spent her time in the arena following other tributes around and stealing their supplies. First, the Careers and now Lucy.

Lyric stumbled through the hole a couple minutes later, clutching his head in agony.

I cringed minutely when my mind wandered to Davis. Ever since the 151st Hunger Games when almost every tribute starved to death, an unspoken rule of the Gamemakers was to make sure most tributes didn't die from starvation or dehydration. Every once in awhile, it happened and the Capitol was okay with that. Still, I bet my life that they much would have rather seen Davis being stabbed to death then writhing on the floor moaning quietly.

Luckily, I hadn't gotten a call from President Raven yet, which meant she wasn't upset that Davis had died. I knew, though, that if any other tributes died of that cause, I was going to be called to her office. Sometimes, the life of a Gamemaker was hard. Always trying to please everyone.

After an hour or so, Charlotte and Adam ran onto the fourth floor. They were quickly followed by _all_ of the Careers, and I couldn't help but laugh. I rewound the replay and watched as Charlotte and Adam literally ran straight into the Careers waiting by the entrance, and instead of stopping and fighting they continued to run past them. The Careers were so shocked that it wasn't until Cami, Lucian, and Jacqie turned the corner that they began to ascend the entrance in pursuit.

I let out another small sigh. Everyone was now out of the third floor, but on the bright side, they were all miserable. Ruth had definitely cranked down the temperature, and the sopping wet tributes looked fairly depressed.

I watched as Charlotte and Adam made it away from the Careers. They really weren't the luckiest people in this arena. Hawk has gone all three days with almost no confrontation, and these two were constantly fighting. Fate has a funny sense of humor.

I managed to smirk slightly when I saw Valhalla twirling her bracelet around her wrist. Early this morning, she went exploring while Thomas was still asleep. She stumbled upon the special item in a previously visited room, and was now currently wearing it. The Careers probably assumed that the bracelet was her token, but the Capitol knew better. It had a certain amount of energy, and Valhalla already used five percent of it when she was figuring out how to use it. It was simple, really. You pressed a button, and it extended and turned into a glove. You could shoot small charges of electricity out of your palm, or a stream of lightening. It just depended on how much of the precious energy you wanted to use. Then, when you were done with it, you pressed a button and it turned back into a bracelet.

Pretty nifty, right?

Valhalla certainly was lucky. She had a half brother, plenty of trap making supplies, and a special item. The only downside was that when someone finally managed to make it past her traps, she was screwed. She had better watch her step because she could easily die from just one mistake.

I was snapped out of my list of observations by a loud Glace yelling, "Ow! This damn switch shocked me!"

I rolled my eyes and let out a small snarl.

_I was surrounded by imbeciles!_

**Mentor's POV:**

**District Four:**

**Ethan's POV:**

"I think Leith will be alright," Crescent lied convincingly.

I simply shook my head and stared at the screen. Oceana's death was going to screw with Leith's mind. Neither of them ever confided in us. They never asked for our help, and they never wanted to rely on us. Instead, they relied on each other and became extremely close. Now that Oceana was gone, Leith was going to feel completely alone. He was going to go almost mad with anger. He was going to want to rip out the District Three tribute's throats and pound them until they were fine dust.

_He was just like you._

When I was in my games a few years ago, I was very close with my District Partner, Aqua. We were never romantically involved, but we became almost best friends because we were completely open and honest with each other. When I found out she died, I went mad with grief. The second I saw that _punk _tribute strolling into the place I was in with _her_ trident, I completely lost it. I attacked him, and did everything in my power to kill him. In the end, I threw him into a pile of mutts who teared him apart limb from limb.

I knew this kind of anger. I knew exactly how he was feeling, and it wasn't going to end well. If he couldn't kill those two tributes, he was going to find someone else to assign the blame to. Even if it was for a stupid reason, he was going to put the blame on someone and then he was going to murder them.

"Of course he will be," I lied back. Frankly, we couldn't let the other mentors know that our tribute was in a weak state of mind. The less they knew about him, the better.

Suddenly, a weird buzzing sound came over my personal head set. I quickly hit it, but it didn't do a thing. The sounds from the arena soon faded, and all that was left was a faint buzzing sound. I was almost about ready to take it off and find a technician when I heard voices flood over the line.

"If you can hear me, nod," the voice spoke, as if they had said it a hundred times already.

Instinctively, I nodded and I heard a small gasp of surprise and delight filter through the headset.

"Listen, Ethan, we don't have much time. This line is completely private and bug free, but the Capitol will soon pick it up. They will try to crack it, and once they do that we will only have a few seconds before I'll have to end the connection. Nod if you understand."

I nodded slowly, and glanced around. Where _were_ they?

"There's a rebellion afoot. We have several victors on our side, and a few leaders and higher ups from the Districts. We have also convinced a good chunk of the Capitolian rioters to join forces with us. Let me explain to you what I have planned."

The voice then continued to explain its entire plan. They explained how they wanted to take the Hunger Games down from inside the Capitol itself, and how it had a plan to do it. The entire time, I sat there with thoughts racing through my head. How could I rebel against the Capitol? I was perfectly happy with my life, and the only bad thing that happened to me was when our first born came out of the womb as a still born. Besides that, the Capitol treated my wife and me with complete and utter respect. How could we repay them with a slap to the face?

"I can see it on your face," the voice whispered, "You're thinking about your loved ones. Your wife in particular. I thought as much so I have a small voice of reason here to talk to you."

Suddenly, the voice was gone, and in came the voice of a friend of mine. "Ethan?"

It was Memory.

"Ethan, I'm sorry to tell you this, but the Capitol isn't as perfect as you think. By now, you've noticed how Crescent disappears for hours at a time. How she comes back and looks completely empty. It's because the Capitol… I'm sorry, it's because the President sells her body to the people of the Capitol."

My jaw dropped as I glanced at my fellow mentor. Crescent was young and beautiful, but I could see how much she had aged since I first saw her win her games. I always thought it was the stress of the Hunger Games, but could this new subject be what was really draining her of her life?

"That's not all. Remember when Crescent's twin brother, Sonny, died after you won your games? It wasn't an accident. Crescent refused to sell her body anymore, so they killed her _brother_. A fellow victor just to stop any form of rebellion. This government is corrupt, Ethan, and we need your help. You can help us reach the Career Districts. We already have the Advisor of the Training Center in District Two on our side, but she isn't enough. We need an actual Career victor."

I felt a mixture of fear and anger radiating through my body. How could any of this be true? How could they do this! This was even worse than the actual Hunger Games. Every year, the Hunger Games ended. What they were doing to my fellow victors went on forever. It went on until the day they died.

"You think you've been unaffected as well? We found all this information in the Capitol data base. When we found the information surrounding Crescent and Sonny, we also found a piece of information about you. Ethan, President Raven ordered the doctors in the hospital to kill your child. You were here in the Capitol and your wife was unconscious. Ethan, they eventually want to kill your wife. Once the Capitol is tired of your wife and how cute of a couple you make, they want to kill her so that you have no connections to anyone anymore. I don't know why she wants to do this, but she has some sort of plan for you. Ethan, we need you to join the rebellion."

Fury.

Fury was the only emotion I could feel. I didn't know if what they were saying was true. I knew Memory used to hate me, but I also knew she wouldn't lie to me about this. I was almost certain that if I asked her to see the file, she would have it ready to show me in minutes.

The line was suddenly cut off, and I knew the Capitol must have been trying to crack it. All I could do was nod vigorously while tears rolled down my face. President Raven knew how to manipulate all of us. She knew what to hold against us, and used us as pawns. However, what she failed to even think about was that one day her dirty laundry would be aired for all to see. Now that I knew these secrets, I wasn't 'under control'. If she was worried about a rebellion starting before, she had better be even more worried now. Even if I have to do this by myself, I'm taking her down. No one messes with me, my friends, and _especially_ my wife. The next time I saw her, she had better pray I don't have the opportunity to drive a knife through her throat!

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

Shit.

I brought my knees even closer to my chest and tried to stop myself from shivering. It's not enough that the Gamemakers decided to start flooding the arena, but now they turned the temperature down to near freezing. I continued to sit curled up in my corner, on top of a container that kept the small amount of water on the floor from touching me.

I'd rather be _dead_ then be touching any water.

I was still wet from the floor below, and it seemed that I wasn't going to be able to dry off any time soon.

On the bright side, I had finally figured out my plan yesterday. It was one of the most simple and most unsuccessful plans in the Hunger Games. I was just going to try and stay invisible.

Everyone knew me as the tribute that got lucky. I obtained a fairly high score and most of the other tributes thought it was a fluke. I glanced at one of my three throwing knives that was strapped at my belt and smiled. It _wasn't_ a fluke, that's for sure.

Anyway, Admyer seemed to have the same plan as me. I haven't heard or seen hide or tail of him. When I'm sneaking in the shadows and down corridors, I tend to spot certain tributes. The only tributes I haven't spotted since we entered the arena are Admyer, Ace, and Davis. All four of us are the forgettable tributes. The other tributes don't see us as threats, and we aren't exactly on the Capitol's good side.

My ears perked when I heard the anthem play, and I rose up eyes upward towards the ceiling.

The first face to appear was Oceana, the District Four girl. My eyes bulged and I felt tingles run up and down my spine. Oceana was the weakest Career from my observations, but she had Leith at her side. I thought for sure that he would protect her until he was dead himself. She was one of the last people I expected to see, and yet there she was. Her smile was timid, and her eyes appeared to be a tad watery. Looking at her picture now was almost torture. Instead of seeing a competitor, all I saw was a dead girl.

The next picture to appear was of Davis, the small twelve year old from District Ten. I gulped and almost shivered. Looks like that's one point against my plan of staying under the radar. My mind quickly began to calculate the circumstances of their deaths. I can assume that both Oceana and Davis were killed by another tribute. Someone could have died by the hands of a mutt or perhaps even by the flood, but it was doubtful. Neither of them could have died from starvation or dehydration. Oceana had the Careers, and Davis had Scarlett. Their teammates wouldn't have let them die like that.

I let out a small sigh, and pulled a small cracker out of my backpack. I didn't have very much food left, but the flood did do one good thing. I used it to refill my mostly empty canteen.

Day three was coming to an end, and I still hadn't done anything useful. Maybe that's why Davis died. He was too _boring_. The Gamemakers got tired of having him around, and sent a pack of wild mutts after him. Could that be me in a matter of days? Right now, was I just a disposable tribute that the Capitol didn't care about?

When I was younger, I dreamed about volunteering for the Hunger Games. I thought I could put my father's thievery skills that he taught me and my natural stealth to use. I thought that I could bring back riches and my family wouldn't be poor anymore. My mother wouldn't have to work her hands until her skin was raw and her nail beds bled. My father wouldn't come back home with bleeding lashes across his body for stealing. I thought that I might be able to handle the Hunger Games.

I look back, and just laugh at how naïve I was. The Hunger Games was a torture device. There was almost no way for me to win. If you pitted me against almost anyone in this arena, I might lose. Sure, I could throw a few knives. How about you put me against someone who has the speed to dodge them. Someone who has the strength to take the hits and then take me out. Someone who can manipulate me into trusting them so that they can take one of these knives and stab me in the back with them.

Things weren't looking good for me, but I couldn't give up. It was my duty to keep trying. If I gave up, I failed my family. They would be grief stricken if I died. However, if I gave up then they would be far more than grief stricken. They would feel confused, and almost betrayed.

I couldn't let down my family.

I shifted my knees uncomfortably, and another small shiver ran up my spine. For a split second, a selfish glee spread through my body. I knew that almost every tribute, if not all of them, were in the exact same boat as I was right now. Everyone was cold, and most were shivering and miserable. For the first time since I entered these games, people were feeling exactly how I was. It was oddly comforting.

My eyes began to flutter shut, and I let out a warm puff of breath. I had to just take this one step at a time. I had to wait and see what the arena and Gamemakers threw at me. For once, I couldn't plan ahead and be a step ahead of everyone else. Everyone had some sort of plan today, and then the flood happened. Almost everyone's plans were disrupted, and the arena erupted into chaos. As long as I stayed on my toes, I would be alright. So, for the first time, I didn't worry about tomorrow when I drifted off into sleep. I was only happy that I survived another day.

**One last update before I head off to New York City :D**

**I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I fit a ton of shocking things in here. Ruth starting the floor (in case you didn't guess that she had done it), the logical reasoning behind Cami's crazy choices, an epic fight with a large group of tributes, and revelations about the Capitol and Ethan's life. I think it was a good chapter :D**

**Anyway, please review! I appreciate every review, and I would really love to hear your opinion of this chapter :D **


	33. Day Four: Part One: Shadows

**Day Four: Shadows**

**Part One:**

**District Five:**

**Admyer's POV:**

The lights began to slowly flicker on and I closed my eyes.

Day four.

I still couldn't believe that I had made it to day four. It seemed like yesterday when I was back home in District Five working at the butchery, stealing whatever small bits and pieces of meat I could get my grubby hands on. Now I'm in the Hunger Games, watching over my district partner.

I open my eyes and glance over at Winnifred. She hasn't spoken a single word to me since I saved her life. All day yesterday she kept looking at me as if I was either going to run away or smash her skull in the second she looked away. I was tempted to ask her about her allies, but I knew it wasn't a good idea.

During the confusion of the flooding last night, I managed to find us storage vault to hide in. It was about as wide as my bed back in the Capitol, and as tall as the room. The good thing about it was that there was only one way in and one way out. If anyone opened that door, they were going to be met with my hammer.

I crawled to the opening of the vault, and pushed it outwards slowly. As I expected, no one was camping outside.

I shut the door behind me and began to weave my way through different machinery and storage containers. I didn't know what I was looking for, maybe some sort of edible substance. I was pleased to note that the water was only ankle deep, proving that the Gamemaker's stopped the flooding.

I made it to the end of the metal room, and peeked through the doorway. No one was in the hallway, so I took a left. I kept walking until I came to a room, and looked inside. I froze when I saw a tribute sifting through a cabinet. I couldn't tell if it was the District Four boy, or Alexei, but either way I didn't want him to see me. I quickly jogged my way back to my room, and then to my vault. I opened the door, and took a step inside. I heard the snap of a string, and hit the ground. An arrow sailed through the air where my head previously was, and I grabbed for my hammer.

Winnifred was sitting upwards with her bow aimed at me. She quickly lowered it.

"Sorry, I thought it was another tribute…"

"Didn't you see that I wasn't here! It should be safe to assume that I was the one coming back!" I almost shouted.

"Your supplies were gone. I _assumed_ you left… for good," she whispered.

I realized that I _had_ taken my backpack with me out of habit.

"Oh… Well… I didn't," I replied lamely.

The air was tense for the next few seconds until I scrambled back into a sitting position and shut the door behind me.

"Sorry I almost killed you…"

"Sorry I didn't leave my stuff…"

An awkward silence settled between us. I aimlessly twirled my hammer while she absentmindedly clasped and unclasped her hands. For minutes upon minutes, we continued what we were doing.

For the first time in a long time, the silence was killing me. I usually treasured the quiet moments in life. When, for once, nothing was making any noise and nothing worthwhile was happening. Right now, I needed it to end.

"I'm not going to leave you… I hope you know that," I murmured.

Winnifred's head gradually moved upwards as she looked me over. "I wish I could take your word on it."

"And why can't you?" I questioned.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because my last ally literally _led_ the Careers to Jacqie and I. Then, when I got away from the Careers, she tried to kill me. Now, Lucy is laughing her butt off somewhere and Jacqie is probably slowly bleeding to death somewhere. This happened because I trusted Lucy to stay where she was, and not leave. I trusted her to not betray us, and to not lie about actually being hurt. I trusted her because she was my ally and look where that got me! So, no, I can't take your word for anything!"

Winnifred's rant had slowly escaladed to a scream-a-thon. Her green eyes were brimming with tears, and she looked about ready to either punch a wall or break down in sobs.

"I saved your life. If I wanted you dead, I would have just kept walking," I replied.

"Or, perhaps, you wanted to get rid of the bigger competition. Maybe, now you want to keep me around to the final two just so you can have an opponent you can easily take down."

Winnifred's eyes were alight with paranoia. Obviously, the entire time she wasn't talking to me yesterday she was thinking of the reasons of why I saved her life. So far, none of them seemed correct.

"Or, maybe, I want to survive as long as possible and I know my best chance is if I have a smart tribute as my ally."

Winnifred let out a small huff and turned her head away from me. "Whatever."

I slowly racked my brain of how I could get through to this girl. An ally who didn't trust me was useless. If she didn't trust me, then she would ditch me during the first sticky situation we ran into. If I could somehow find Jacqie, I know Winnifred would trust me.

Jacqie is clearly healthy enough to move. Otherwise she would have died on the floor she met the Careers on. The most reasonable conclusion would be that she got away unscathed, but that also has a big hole in it. There were six careers, a psychopath, and a somewhat fast manipulator versus Jacqie. There is no possible way she could have made it away from all of them without killing at least three of them. So, presumably, she was captured by the Careers. Why wouldn't they kill her?

A chill went down my spine.

Because the strongest tribute in these games has a psychotic obsession with her. Who knows what he's doing to her.

I glanced over at Winnifred who was still fighting back tears.

Maybe it was time to step out of the shadows.

**District Thirteen:**

**Alexei's POV:**

"God… damn… cold…" I muttered furiously.

The water may have stopped rising, but the temperature was as freezing as ever. Thankfully, I was dry, but something about low temperatures always bothered me. Perhaps it was because I was always in an underground facility where the temperature was almost perfect all the time. Yeah, that must be it…

It also didn't help that I was so hungry I was thinking of eating my own arm off. Another disadvantage District Thirteen gave me was that my meals were always regulated. I never went a day without a perfectly portioned meal.

I sat down on a random container, set my sword down, and placed my hands under my arm pits. I had to stop thinking about how utterly miserable I was! If all I had were negative thoughts, then everything would just seem bad. I have to find the good in _something_!

I looked all around the room for a few minutes.

Nope, nothing good…

"Alexei!"

I turned my head to the right, and saw Ruth running towards me.

Looks like I just found my good thing.

"Well you're a sight for sore eyes," I smiled.

I quickly stood up and waited for her to reach me. Her brown hair was flung back behind her shoulders, and her blue eyes sparkled. I couldn't even remember not seeing her hair in a pony tail, and her eyes did seem bluer than normal. My first thought was that she might be a muttation, but I quickly brushed that aside. Now was not the time to become all paranoid.

Ruth, one of the most unaffectionate people I have met, threw herself at me and hugged me tightly.

"It's nice that I'm not alone now," she whispered in my ear.

I hugged her back, partly out of shock, and she soon released me. "Yeah, I wish all of us would have met up sooner."

Ruth looked like I had just slapped her when I mentioned our previous allies, but she quickly masked it with a smile. "All that really matters is here and now!"

I nodded with a smile on my face. "I don't remember you being this cheery."

"Seeing a friendly face after enduring hell for four days could make even the most unfortunate man happy," she laughed.

I glanced at her, and realized all she was carrying were two swords.

"Well, that seems to be us. All we have are weapons. No food or water," I mentioned.

For a split second, I saw Ruth clutch her side, as if she was missing something, before she quickly relaxed her hand.

"Yeah, no other supplies," Ruth agreed.

I realized that I didn't have my sword and I turned around. I saw it lying right where I left it, and picked it up.

"Well you definitely aren't _too_ unfortunate. That sword is _amazing_," Ruth gushed.

"I thought so too," I smirked.

"Would you mind if I saw it? Does it have any special qualities?"

My blood froze. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure how trustworthy Ruth was.

"Yeah, it has a small hinge in the middle. If you click it back far enough, it comes apart and you have two swords," I spoke cautiously.

"Now, that is neat. Way neater than these two swords," she grinned as she yanked them out from behind her back. They came out of the sheathes that were strapped to her torso, and she held them up to the light.

"They're just boring, grey metal," Ruth sighed.

"Uh huh," I murmured.

"Would you like to see them?" She asked as she practically jabbed one of them at me. I jumped slightly, but managed to keep my cool. I made a grab for the handle so that I could 'see' it, but she quickly moved it. If I wouldn't have stepped backwards in the nick of time, she would have run it straight through my gut.

"You little traitor," I snarled.

"Oh please, you know I only liked Ayla and De-… My district partner," she growled back.

"Devon," I barked back, "His name was Devon."

"Stop saying his name," she whispered.

"Devon, Devon, Devon," I chanted like a child in a tantrum.

"I said _stop_," she yelled as she dove at me. She sliced through the air with both her swords, but I ducked. I brought my sword sideways in a sweeping arc, and she jumped right over it. She swiftly used her right foot to kick me in the face, which sent me hurtling backwards. My head thumped loudly against the floor. I could already see her raising her sword upwards. I rolled to my left, and heard her sword make contact with the metal floor.

I shoved myself to my feet and tried to stab her with my sword. She dodged it again, and tried to lob my head off with both of her swords.

I ducked again, and took several steps backwards. She wasn't trained to fight like I was. However, she was quite a bit faster than me, and certainly better at dodging attacks. This could go on forever. Or, at least, until one of us made a fatal mistake.

For minutes, which seemed like hours, we continued our 'game' of attack and dodge. As soon as she dodged one of my attacks, she was ready to hack off one of my limbs. But finally, I got the better of her. Instead of dodging her swords, I used the metal bar of my double sword to block it, and used my right leg to sweep her feet out from under her. She crashed to the ground, and I kicked her as hard as I could in the hip as possible. She let out a surprised yelp before she grabbed my foot and pulled me to the ground.

I quickly raised my sword, ready to swipe at her head, but it was too late. She was on her knees, a sword in each hand. Before I could even move my arms, she brought her left sword swiftly across my right wrist.

Hunger and discomfort didn't even compare to this pain.

I let out a howl of pure pain, and dropped the sword that I was only holding with my left hand. I glanced downwards, and noticed my hand was still tightly gripped around the handle.

"You can't use this sword with only one hand," Ruth practically sneered.

"You _bitch_," I screamed.

I swung at her with my left fist, and she dodged it. What she wasn't expecting was for me to swing at her with my bloody stump. It hit her square in the jaw, and both of us screamed out in pain. Something suddenly fell out of her jacket, and I quickly grabbed it. I had no idea what it was, but it looked important. I began to sprint away, and I heard Ruth let out a horrified cry.

"My map!" she screamed.

I glanced behind me for a split second to see her picking up my double sword, and running after me. I had to get away from her, and I knew I would. She was a good sprinter, but I knew I could outrun her when it came to distance.

So Ruth got the map at the bloodbath.

I took off my jacket as I ran and wrapped it around my arm. I needed to apply pressure to help staunch the bleeding. I glanced down at the ground, and saw how the blood running down my body mixed with the water. In the shadows of the room, it looked like it was black instead of red.

**District Two:**

**Apollo's POV:**

"I hate my life," Cami murmured as she rubbed her arms.

Since we got up to the fourth floor last (or that's what we assumed since no one else came up after us and there were no cannons last night) we were the most thoroughly soaked tributes in this game. Even after we took off our jumpsuits and jackets last night, they were still wet when we woke up. This being said, the Careers were officially walking around our makeshift camp in our undergarments.

The only tribute who refused to stay in their undergarments this morning was Valhalla. She said she would rather die from hypothermia then be so exposed on national television.

"Is being cold really the _only_ reason you hate your life. That's pathetic," Asita muttered under her breath so only I could hear. I couldn't help but smirk slightly, but managed to keep myself from audible laughter. One of the things I loved about Asita was all the snarky comments she said under her breathe when she thought no one was listening. Well, most people wouldn't listen as closely to her as I do…

"We should get moving soon," Leith grunted.

"Oh yeah, let's be the biggest laughing stock in the history of the Hunger Games! The Careers who trudge around the arena naked!" Cami yelled.

"We wouldn't be naked," Leith grumbled.

Leith didn't seem to have any problems walking around in his underwear. But, hey, I wouldn't either if I had the best body in this alliance. It was almost amusing to see how every person reacted to being in their undergarments in public. Valhalla simply couldn't stand it, and slept out of sight last night. Thomas and Stark only seemed to mind when they noticed anyone looking at them. Cami, Leith, and Lucian all walked around as if they _were_ fully clothed, and Jordana didn't seem to care at all either. Asita, oddly enough, kept her arms around her body and seemed almost agitated from being exposed. I, personally, wouldn't have cared because it really isn't that big of a deal. We were in the Hunger Games. Decency didn't have any place here.

I looked at Jacqie and sighed. She just looked defeated. Ever since Lucian chained her up, she reminded me of an abused dog. She constantly had a downcast look on her face, and whenever Lucian was around her she was constantly flinching and cringing. I guess that's what Lucian wanted. I just wish he would hurry up and kill her. Put her head in a backpack just like Sage's.

If I ever got close to Lucian, I could _smell_ _her_. It's disgusting. According to him, as soon as he had the right supplies, he was going to shrink her head. I just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

"What are you thinking about?" Asita murmured as she placed her head on my shoulder.

"Jacqie and Sage," I replied honestly.

I could feel her tremor slightly. "I've seen plenty of disturbing things, but what Lucian is doing has to be the worst," she sighed.

"I can't believe Cami tolerates it."

"She has too. If she didn't, he would either leave the alliance or kill her. Either one of those are unfavorable for her," Asita observed.

"I don't know, sometimes I just think she's trying to get under our skin."

"I doubt that. It wouldn't make sense for her to displease and aggravate her own alliance. She's just trying to be a leader, in her own way."

"I suppose," I replied quietly.

There was a minute of silence, and all I could hear was Cami sloshing around in the water while she paced.

"It really doesn't matter what Cami or Lucian does, though," I whispered.

"Why?"

"Because we'll be together."

After a minute, she replied, "Unless they kill one of us."

"Then we'll run. I'm far faster than both of them."

"I'm not."

"Then I'll carry you."

Asita wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me closer. We stayed this way for minutes, and I reveled in it. I loved the way her head fit right into the crook of my neck. I loved so many things about her.

"I love you," I whispered.

Asita tensed up slightly, "I… I… You know how I feel about you."

I stopped myself from sighing and took what I could get. I've told her that I loved her a few times now. For some reason, she could never manage to say it back. I knew that she did… I just _knew_ it, but she couldn't say it. There was some story behind it, but I couldn't ask her about it now. We were constantly surrounded by people, and I also knew Asita wouldn't open herself up and say anything that could be used against her in front of people she didn't trust. She was protective of herself in that way.

I looked at Jacqie again, and furrowed my brow.

Something was wrong.

Jacqie appeared extremely tense. Lucian had a firm grip on the chain that was connected to the manacle on her neck, but, suddenly, she also had an extremely tight grip on it as well. Her eyes were practically bugging out of her skull. For a few seconds I couldn't place the emotion I saw on them.

It wasn't until the arrow was sailing through the air that I recognized the thing in her eyes as hope.

The arrow sank right through the hand that had a firm grip on her chain, and Lucian dropped it. Jacqie swiftly got to her feet, chain in hand, and positioned herself behind Lucian. She pulled the chain as hard as she could against Lucian's throat, and pressed his body against hers. A boy shot out from one side of the large room and grabbed a knife from Lucian's pile of weapons. He held it right up to Lucian's chest, right where his heart was.

Everyone was frozen in shock.

"No one _move_," Jacqie yelled.

Lucian didn't have any leverage, and he clearly couldn't breathe. He was trying to pull the chain away from his throat, but Jacqie was using her leverage to keep it firmly pressed against it.

"Winnie, come untie me!" Jacqie shouted again.

Suddenly, the small blonde girl that Jacqie risked her life for on day two shout out of the shadows. She quickly untied the chains that were keeping Jacqie from moving more than five feet. The girl also swiftly picked up the other two chains that were now lying on the ground and wrapped them around Jacqie's waist. It was so that Jacqie wouldn't trip on them if and when she ran. After thirty more seconds, Lucian went limp.

Right when that happened Jacqie screamed, "_Now_!"

Jacqie let go of the chain, and Lucian crashed to the ground. She quickly scooped up her smaller axe from Lucian's pile that was clearly a sponsor's gift. Winnifred grabbed one of Lucian's backpacks, and the boy grabbed another backpack. They started to sprint away and the Careers went into action.

Cami quickly checked to see if Lucian was still alive, Jordana threw an axe, Leith threw a spear, and the rest of us tried to find our weapons in the chaos of our camp.

Both of their weapons missed, and now everyone was in sheer panic.

"Stop them!" Cami screamed as she grabbed a sword from the pile and began to chase them. The three of them were only twenty feet away from me, and I knew what I had to do. Because of my blind eye, I had a terrible aim. In fact, even before that I was awful with ranged weapons. However, I knew I could hit a tribute from twenty feet away.

I grabbed a knife that was randomly kicked towards me during the panic and scuffle. I drew my arm back, and threw it as hard as I could at the escapees. I hit a tribute.

Just the wrong one.

The knife sailed through the air, but I didn't throw it at the right angle. The knife began to drift left, and I let out a gasp. Instead of hitting one of my intended targets, the knife hit home in Thomas' stomach. Thomas let out a bark of pain and hit the ground.

Valhalla let out a high pitched screech that I didn't think possible of her, and she rushed over to Thomas. The three tributes ran out of the room, and no one moved. We knew that they had gotten away, and we weren't prepared enough to chase them for long. By the time we had collected our minds and weapons, they would have disappeared. I was the last chance we had of catching them, and I did more than fail.

I made the situation worse.

"Someone get over here and _fix him_!" Valhalla screeched.

Asita frantically found her backpack and rushed over to Thomas. She pulled out one of the medical kits that we had gotten at the Cornucopia.

"Valhalla, pull out the knife and push as hard as you can against the wound. Cami, I need some of our water _now_," Asita shouted with authority.

"Who died and made you leader," Cami argued.

"She spent the most time at the first aid station out of all of us. Plus, she's from District Eight, which means it's safe to assume she knows how to sew at least a little bit. Now, if anyone else argues with her I'm going to force you to drink poison! Understand!" Valhalla screamed.

Silence was her agreement.

No one, not even the Capitol, had heard her ever speak with so much emotion. Valhalla had finally cracked.

Valhalla swiftly pulled the knife out, and pressed against it as hard as she could. Thomas screamed out in pain, and Cami began to pour water on his wound.

"Someone get him something to bite on," Asita barked.

Jordana ran over with her jacket, and shoved the sleeve in his mouth. Thomas chomped down on it, and moaned in pain.

"Valhalla, enough. Cami and I need to clean the wound now," Asita said sharply, but compassionately.

Valhalla stumbled backwards, blood on her hands. Her head snapped towards me, and I could see tears brimming in her ice blue eyes.

"_You_," Valhalla snarled.

She flew towards me at top speed. She stopped when we were toe to toe, and glared up at me.

"If he doesn't survive, I'm holding you responsible. I will make you suffer! I will _slowly_ hurt you until you _beg_ for death! You blind _fool_!"

With that last word, she reached up and raked her nails down my face. I let out a cry of pain and surprise. Jordana sprinted over to me and lifted Valhalla off her feet. Valhalla squirmed and twisted. She snarled and bit. She went completely nuts. Jordana handed Valhalla to Leith, who carried her outside, away from the chaos.

"It's not your fault. You were only doing what you thought was best," Jordana soothed.

"I hurt our ally. Maybe even killed him," I cried.

"It was an _accident_. Valhalla will calm down. She's just upset that her district partner is hurt. Even a stoic robot like her has emotions. He probably reminds her of home. Maybe even of her family. Of course she would be upset if she lost him. Heck, if I kept every emotion I had bottled up like she did, I know I would have overreacted and exploded just like her if you got hurt."

Jordana quickly realizes what she said in her last sentence and blushes slightly.

I draw Jordana into a hug, and whisper, "Thanks… You always know what to say… You're such a great friend… one of the best, actually."

Jordana continued to hug me and rub my back soothingly. We parted after a few more seconds, and I walked closer to Thomas. Asita was just finished stitching up his wound.

"Lay here and don't move," she ordered.

She stood up and turned to me. "I did all I could remember from the training center. Now it's just up to fate."

"What do you mean by that," I whispered.

"I mean… He lost a great deal of blood, Apollo… Plus, it could get infected… Things aren't looking good for him…"

Instead of comforting me, she turned back to Thomas. "I'm going to go break the news to Valhalla. Cami, go get the sleeping pills we managed to snag during the bloodbath."

"For Thomas?"

"No, Valhalla."

Asita marched out into the hallway, and Cami followed closely behind her. I glanced over at Stark, who had been silent and still the entire time. _He_ should have thrown that knife. _He_ wouldn't have missed.

"Apollo…" Jordana continued.

"No. I… I want to be alone…" I whispered.

I marched over to the very corner the boy had popped out of and slumped to the ground. I hadn't killed anyone these entire games. In fact, I don't think I could bring myself to do it except out of reaction or defense. And now… now I might have just killed a _defenseless_ and _innocent_ kid. Even if he is only a year or two younger than me, he seems so much younger.

Valhalla's right. I am a blind fool. Why did I do something as stupid as try to do something I know I'm terrible at!

I placed my head in my lap, and let the tears flow. I knew that the shadows would hide my grief and guilt from everyone but myself…

**I'm back :D**

**I know you were all waiting an entire month or so to see what happens, so I just had to update!**

**Excuses? Traveling three weeks, sick when I got back, and then trying to enjoy summer a bit ;D **

**Also, I have a paper to write this week, and a book to read for my Honors English class! EWWWWW! **

**Anyways, I do have an announcement to make. My updates will get getting shorter for good D: I will NOT give up on this story, but I've decided to try and write a novel. That being said, I simply cannot keep punching out eight thousand words a week AND write a novel. It's just not possible if I want to have a life. So, my update will be most likely every other week, maybe every week when I'm super inspired, and they will be four thousand to five thousand words long. Also, during some days, I will not have Part One and Part Two. They will just be a day, but those will be longer because more will need to happen in one chapter. **

**I hope you all understand, and continue to read and review :D oh, and I will be doing one more submit your own blank (I'm a little scared of that acronym/words after two of mine got taken down) after this one. Only one, because I can't keep doing these for the rest of my life. I have other ideas I want to write about. Once I am finished with these submit your own blank, I will continue to be on fan fiction. I will finish my Dance of Death story, maybe redo my Girl without Fire story, and definitely write an Enobaria story! All the while, writing my novel/novels. **

**This is my choice and I'm sticking to it!**

**Anyways, please review and tell me about what you think about this chapter! I think it was pretty action packed!**

**OH! And two things! A) i love love love this new book cover thing, so if anyone finds any picture they think represents any of my stories OR if you make one because people who make them always make them SOOOOO cool and UGH i would love love love you forever! **


	34. Day Four: Part Two: Needs

**Day Four: Needs**

**Part Two:**

**Mentor's POV:**

**Ophelia's POV:**

"Did you get the coffee?" I asked cheerfully on the phone as Memory and I walked out of the Control Room.

"Oh yes, the coffee is piping hot and ready. Better hurry before it cools off," the voice on the other end practically hissed.

"Now, now, don't sound so bitter," I reprimanded, "I don't want that bitterness seeping into my drink."

"Well, then you better hurry before I throw away your drink," the voice growled before it hung up.

I let out a small sigh and put my phone away. "I don't know why she is so uptight. We _are_ just going for drinks!"

Memory let out a small giggle, and rolled her eyes discretely. Acting like two happy go lucky mentors when you were really ruthlessly trying to build a rebellion was extremely hard to do.

Memory and I continued to absentmindedly chatter while we walked to our destination. We knew that the Capitol had cameras everywhere. Of course, that didn't mean that they were always listening. Still, we liked to be safe. One screw up could end our lives after all.

Eventually, we made it to the nearest street. They were far away from the Control Room because it was placed in the middle of a fairly high security area.

A taxi was waiting for us since Memory called ahead. We climbed inside, and directed the man to where we wanted to go.

After about ten minutes of hazardous driving and a vulgar taxi driver, we stepped out of the car with a relieved smile on our faces.

"That man should have his tongue chopped out," Memory complained to herself.

"You mean you want him to be made an Avox," I stated with a straight face.

"Oh… I… Uh… No… Uh…" Memory stuttered as her face turned a bright shade of red.

I burst out into a gale of laughter before I shoved her playfully. "I'm just joking, darling. Don't take everything so seriously!"

I linked my arm through Memory's and led her towards the coffee shop. Right before we made it to the door, I pulled her to the right and we went down the back alley. There were several people mulling about, but most of them seemed to be using this as a short cut to hurry off somewhere.

About halfway down the alley, I led Memory down another side alley and down a flight of stairs. I knocked three times on the door, and it opened slowly.

It wasn't locked, and the door was already open.

I take a few steps inside and glance around. Where are they?

Before I can call out, a knife comes whizzing out of the darkness and hits a nearby table with a thud. On either side of the throwing knife is a cup of coffee. I walk over to the table, grab the one on the right, and take a quick sip.

"Darn, it's lukewarm," I grumbled.

"Just be glad I even got either of you coffee," the figure in the shadow huffs. The figure steps out and smiles at us.

"And hello to you too, Lorie," Memory smirks.

"Hi fire crotch," Lorie hisses.

Memory frowns slightly before taking a sip of her drink.

After Rouge turned down our offer, we had to find another Victor whom the Capitol loved. Lorie was that tribute. I had assumed even before I asked Rouge that Lorie would laugh in my face and turn the offer down. However, she surprised me and accepted without even thinking twice about it. Whenever I asked her why, she just changed the subject by telling me to stop asking questions and then insulting something about my appearance.

"You guys had better hurry. The owner of the building didn't seem too happy when he saw me sneak into this room earlier. He said if he caught me again he'd rip my throat out. It's safe to assume he is keeping his eye on the place now."

Justice stepped out of the shadows as well and I smiled. He was the brains behind this operation. Our very own District Three genius. He was the perfect person to run all our equipment and secure locations from cameras and recording devices. No one knew who he was, he didn't stand out in any way physically, and he was one of the most observant people I had ever met.

"Well, we would if someone showed us where the real coffee was," Memory growled.

"I can't control her bodily movements. She has to come out and play on her own," Lorie yelled over her shoulder.

I heard a shuffle of movement and out popped our "coffee".

"Nice of you to finally join us," Lorie sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"I was just making sure… I'm being careful, alright," the girl snapped.

That's all she was. I could tell that she was older than she looked, but she just looked like a girl to me. I had never seen her in person, or even a picture of her.

"Are you sure this is the girl we're looking for?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yes it is. This is Peach Dupont, head of the Muttation Department," Lorie yawned.

"Alright, Peach, let me explain to you what I want you to do," I started.

After a brief explanation of the rebellion, I quickly told her of the plan I had to finally show the Capitol they had no hold over us.

After I was done explaining my plan and what I wanted her to do, she just whispered, "You're completely crazy…"

"Both of my children died in the Hunger Games last year. What else would you expect me to be?" I snarled.

"I just don't see how I could do that without everyone else noticing what I'm up to…" Peach started.

"Find a way. Without you, this entire plan will backfire in our faces. We need you, Peach, and we know you aren't happy with what the President is doing," Memory intervened.

"I-I guess," Peach stuttered.

"No wonder you never appear anywhere in public. You're socially inept," Lorie said flippantly.

"Put the claws away," Memory snapped.

"Whatever you say, fire crotch," Lorie yawned as she pulled out a nail file. She slowly began to file one of her nails, and I knew she was probably contemplating a way to discreetly slaughter Memory.

"Peach, we need a definite answer. Are you going to help us or not? Now that you know our plan, you're either with us or with the President. There is no happy medium," I spoke.

As soon as I mentioned that she was either with us or with the President, her eyes lit up in a strange way. A sudden spark of determination appeared in her previously unsure expression.

"I'm in… but there are a few things I'm going to need first."

**District Seven:**

**Jacqie's POV:**

"You… you have to be joking," I whispered in shock as I stared at Winnie.

"Jacqie… I'm sorry but that's what happened," Winnie murmured.

A wall of pure anger and hatred hit me like a ton of bricks. "That little _bitch_. I practically threw my _life_ away so that she could escape! I was willing to die so that she could make it longer in these stupid games and _you're_ telling me she purposefully led the Careers to us! That she was using the Careers to get rid of us!"

My screams of pure rage bounced off the wall. Winnie looked as if I had accused her of committing the act and Admyer was stoically leaning against one of the walls. I quickly realized why Winnifred was so shocked and scared. She had never even heard me raise my voice in anger before, let alone completely fly off the handle. Ever since Winnie has met me, I have been the rock. I have been the serious one that helps everyone get through anything they are dealing with.

Now it's my turn to deal with something.

"How could she do that to us! We were a good alliance! We had everything we needed, and she had to go and ruin it! I could just… I could just…"

"Kill her?" Admyer finished.

My head snapped towards him, "Yes… That's _exactly_ what I could do!"

"Jacqie… You're scaring me a little bit," Winnie whispered.

"I get it, Winnie. You're younger. You're more naïve and innocent. You can just sit back and think that she'll eventually get what she deserves. This is the Hunger Games, Winnie! If we want Lucy to get what she deserves, then we have to give it to her," I snarled.

"What exactly are you proposing?" Admyer asked.

"I'm proposing we hunt the little traitor down and slice her open," I stated.

"And what good would that do us?" Admyer questioned again.

"One less competitor. I'm assuming she still has some of our supplies. It will give me peace of mind. Believe me, I can think of many reasons," I snarled.

"I just don't think it's a good idea, that's all," Admyer sighed.

"Listen, if you two don't want to come with me, that's fine. I'm so very thankful you saved me back there, but I _need_ to do this."

Suddenly, the room got quite a bit tenser.

"Are you going to leave?" Winnie asked, as if she was _offended_.

"Winnie, you just don't un-"

"Oh, I definitely understand," Winnie interrupted, "You weren't the only one who was stabbed in the back! You weren't the only one who felt like your life was over! Lucy physically tried to _kill_ _me_! In fact, I wouldn't care if she did die or not. The point is the one thing I was constantly thinking about was _you_! I was wondering where _you_ were and how _you_ were holding up. I was worried sick about _you_, and now _you're_ thinking of leaving me over something as petty as revenge!"

"Revenge is petty!" I countered.

"Neither is friendship," Winnie raged.

The silence that followed was one of the most unbearable things. I had a choice to make. I was either going to stay true to Winnie, my friend, or go after something that was gnawing on my brain. Part of me thought that my anger towards Lucian was clouding my judgment. I needed to kill Lucian because of what he did to my father and me. However, I also had to make Lucy pay for what she did to Winnie and me. But, by acting on my loyalty towards those I care about and my loyalty to myself, I would end up leaving one of the people I cared about most. I had a decision to make and I only had seconds to make it. Both decisions concerned my heart and I felt as if it was being ripped in half.

So I went with my head.

I had to take care of my own well being and my own emotional state before I could even think about trying to take care of Winnie or be a good ally.

"I'm sorry if you feel that way, Winnie, but I have to do this. Lucy and Lucian both have to pay for what they've done."

I swiftly picked up my small axe and a backpack with my share of the supplies.

"Then… I hope you get what you're looking for… and you don't regret it…" Winnie spoke solemnly. I could see her eyes pooling with tears. She felt abandoned, because I _was_ abandoning her. I was choosing my own needs over her.

Winnie picked up her weapons and her backpack. She stormed away, upset. Admyer scooped up the remainder of the supplies and began to jog after Winnie.

"Admyer," I called. He spun around and looked at me curiously. "Look after her for me."

Before he could respond, I turned around and sprinted out of the room the opposite way Winnie went.

I eventually slowed my pace and glanced around. I didn't have very much time until day five. I needed to find my way up to the fifth floor. I realized I was in the room that used to have the giant water containers. I hopped up the metal steps to be in the higher portion of the room. The ceiling of this room was flat, except for a part in the middle that was a dome and made of glass. I looped my arm around one of the metal scaffoldings and hitched my leg up around it as well. I slowly, and surely, climbed up it. After a half hour or so, I made it to the top, and threw myself to a metal beam that was closer to the glass. I looked up and smirked in shock. This wasn't supposed to be the entrance to the fifth floor, but someone else had already turned it into one.

The glass was fairly thick, and right above me there was a hole in it. It wasn't very circular, and I could tell someone must have spent quite some time chipping away at it. It was so small that I knew of only one person who could fit through it.

The boy from Distinct Eleven. That kid always seemed to have a trick up his sleeve.

I slipped my axe out of the place I stashed and began to shove it forcefully into the surrounding glass. It slowly chipped away until the hole was big enough for me to fit into. I put my weapon away, and used my arms to lift my body up towards the hole. I pulled myself through and rolled onto the firm and unbroken glass. I looked around and realized this was its own room. The floor was entirely made out of the glass dome below, and it was just an open room. There were a myriad of doors along the wall, and I quickly realized that this room was most likely in the center of the fifth floor.

I stood up and began to walk to the nearest door. All thoughts of friendship and alliances were forgotten for the time being. Right now, all I wanted to do was escape, and the only way I was going to do that was to kill Lucian and Lucy. They had to be dead before their hold over me could be broken. Once I achieved this goal, it didn't matter what happened afterwards. I would be free, through life or death…

**District Nine:**

**Ace's POV:**

"This place stinks," I grumbled.

After almost being killed by a giant mutt wielding electric shock sticks of doom, I was done with this place. I tried to be sneaky. In fact, I had been sneaky! I managed to follow and leech of the Careers for three days! It would have kept working if that wench _Lucy_ hadn't seen me. As soon as she found me, she just started running at me.

She acted as if her life depended on her killing me. It was just ridiculous! I should have just turned around and fought her, but I was terrified. It was the first time I've ever been chased by someone trying to murder me. It's a bit of a shocker when it happens, you know?

I let out a slight yawn and continued to stomp through waterlogged terrain.

"I hate being wet," I mumbled. All I had was a single knife, a full bottle of water, and a few crackers. My food source, the Careers, were nowhere to be found. In fact, I wasn't able to find a single person _all day_! In the Hunger Games, that's usually a blessing. As of now, it might just be the death of me! But… finding someone could also be the death of me….

I really needed to stop thinking so hard.

I just needed to find my way up to the next floor. No way was I going to be the first tribute, and most likely only, to die because I was stuck on a certain floor. That would just be my luck!

"Hello, Ace," a voice almost chuckled.

I let out a small yelp since I was used to being the one who surprised others. I didn't deal well when the surprise was on me.

I practically flipped around, and standing behind me was my pig headed ex-ally

Lyric.

"Hello to you too," I tried to say calmly as I brushed one of my pigtails behind my shoulder.

"It's nice to see you again," he smiled.

"Uh huh," I nodded. The first thing I noticed about him was that he had a giant red patch in his blonde hair. The second thing I noticed was that his clothes were also drenched in blood. Whether it was his or someone else's I had no idea. My brain quickly remembered how surprised I was to see Davis being dead last night. Lyric may be weak, but he certainly is strong enough to murder a twelve year old…

"I see you're doing just as well as I am," Lyric chuckled.

I suddenly realized he had no supplies.

"I knew splitting up was a bad idea. What do you say to being allies again?"

"I say I'd rather go formally introduce myself to the Careers," I hissed.

In case you couldn't tell, I hadn't forgiven him for calling me weak yet.

"I was so wishing you would have said you'd rather die," Lyric sighed.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"So I could do _this_," Lyric laughed. He grabbed for something and I whipped my knife out from my jacket. Lyric yanked something out that he had hidden behind one of the crates and I gasped.

It certainly looks like Lyric is well off to me.

"I picked this up in one of the rooms. It's this floors special item. I had my choice between this, a basket of food, or a water purifier, I thought this was the best choice," Lyric sneered.

Lyric was holding a harpoon launcher.

"Lyric, I don't think you want to fire that at me," I murmured.

Lyric drew in a hiss of breath and pretended to think about my statement. He then quickly zeroed in on me and moved his finger towards the trigger. "Don't tell me what I want or don't want."

Lyric began to pull the trigger and I hit the ground. He followed me with his gun but I swiftly rolled out of his line of fire. The harpoon hit the ground where my leg had previously been. I let out a small cry and began to run towards him. He was at least twenty feet away.

He hurriedly began to reload another harpoon in his gun. I began to sprint even faster. Right when he got the harpoon in his gun, I threw all my momentum into my shoulder. I rammed my body into his and we both went flying. The harpoon gun went sliding across the floor and both of us hit the ground. I pulled my knife out and tried to stab it into the nearest body part, which happened to be his left foot. Before I could shove it into his foot, he kicked me right in the jaw and my head snapped back.

Lyric scrambled for the gun and I threw my knife at his head. I missed him by inches and he reached the gun. He spun around and kept it tightly pinned on me.

"Goodbye, Ace," he hissed, "This is what you get for leaving me!"

You know when people say you _know_ when you're about to die. I had that feeling. There was no way I could dodge this harpoon in my position. My knife was lying somewhere across the room. There was nothing I could do, and Lyric was too close to miss. I knew I was going to die, and I accepted it. Sure, I would never see my family again. I would never get to run around in the sun. There were quite a few things I could never do, but I had to accept it. His harpoon was going to penetrate my skull, and I would be instantly dead.

Suddenly, a knife came flying out of nowhere and went through Lyric's hand.

Then again, what did people know? There is no way you could know you're going to die before you can!

I leapt at Lyric and tore the gun from his grasp. Lyric gripped his hand and I rolled my eyes. He was just about to shoot a harpoon through me, and he wants me to feel bad a knife is sticking through his hand. I send a quick punch to the skull, and Lyric's head snaps back. It makes an unnatural crunch as it hits the floor.

Looks like you have another head wound to add to your previous one. Perhaps he can start collecting them.

I yank the knife out of his unconscious body and recognize that it isn't mine.

"I didn't have to do that," the voice announced. I jumped a bit, but rolled my eyes. I was getting really tired of voices appearing out of nowhere.

A figure stepped out of the darkness. "Hawk?" I asked.

"In the flesh," he smiled.

"You saved my life," I said almost robotically.

"Yeah… You are from my district and all…"

There was a moment of awkward silence. "So, you want to be allies?" Hawk asked hurriedly.

In all reality, I didn't. I'd rather be on my own.

Still… Maybe I could use this to help me for a bit.

"Sure!" I cheered happily.

I grabbed Lyric's harpoon gun and smacked him upside the head just for the heck of it.

"I'd kill him, but let's face it. He only has four hours or so until midnight. There is no way he's going to be able to find the entrance to the fifth floor by that time, let alone wake up!"

"You'd be surprised," Hawk mumbled, "It's the Hunger Games. Maybe you should kill him… Just for extra measures."

"No… I want him to feel the lasers searing into his body," I chuckled darkly.

I quickly realized I said that aloud and shot a smile towards Hawk, "Let's go find our way out of here!"

"Uh… sure…" Hawk mumbled unconvincingly.

I smiled and got up. "Let me go find my knife first. It has to be somewhere around here!"

I practically skipped over to where I thought it was, for no apparent reason. I think part of me was happy that I wasn't dead. The other part wanted Hawk to think everything was hunky dory. After a few minutes of scavenging, I found it wedged underneath an empty container of some sort. I yanked it out and held it up to the light. In the knife, my reflection almost looked sinister. I had needs. And, right now, my need was surviving this game. Even if I did have to stab other people in the back…

**District Six:**

**Adam's POV:**

"See, that wasn't so difficult," I huffed.

"Wasn't so difficult," Charlotte groaned, "Oh please! That was terrifying!"

About an hour ago, Charlotte and I found the entrance to the fifth floor. It was a long, winding stairway that was hidden behind a fairly large water container. We didn't know if anyone else had found it before us because once you went inside there was a handle to pull it back over the entrance.

However, it took ages to convince Charlotte to go up the stairs. According to her, it was dark, scary, and she just knew her foot was going to go in between the steps. After about fifteen minutes or so of arguing, we finally came to a conclusion.

I was going to forcibly carry her up the steps.

So, I threw her over my shoulders and began my ascendant. For the first minute she fought against me, but she quickly realized that if I _did_ drop her she would fall to her doom.

"Maybe if you would have climbed up the stairs yourself," I snickered as I dropped her flat on her butt, "it would have been less scary."

"As if," Charlotte grumbled to herself.

I glanced around the fifth floor and sighed. Everything was a blinding white. The walls were white as was the floor.

"Come on, we need to get away from here," I barked.

Charlotte stumbled to her feet and began to follow close behind me. After traveling through several empty rooms and hallways, we came to one of the scariest looking room I had ever seen. Lined up along the sides of the room were circular cylinder tanks. Inside were… animals. I, personally, wouldn't call them animals. They were a fusion of creatures. Some of them were a mixture of animals, while others had human characteristics.

"The fifth floor is full of muttations," Charlotte whispered.

I grabbed her hand comfortingly and gave it a squeeze. Ever since we got away from the giant demon mutt, Charlotte seemed to get agitated at even the mention of mutts. The entire experience clearly freaked her out.

"Watch out, you might impale me," Charlotte joked lightly. I glanced down at my 'claws' and chuckled quietly.

We went through the first couple rows of mutts. There were many different kinds of mutts, but one thing they all had in common was that they appeared to be dead… or asleep.

I froze completely when we came to one of the tanks. Inside was the witch mutt from the 225th Hunger Games. Her head was just as large as it appeared on the television back home, and I leaned in closer. Suddenly, one of her giant eyes opened and I let out a yelp. I stumbled backwards and tripped over Charlotte. She quickly stepped away from me.

"What the hell is your problem!" Charlotte screeched.

"The witch! She looked at me," I cried. I pointed to the mutt, but I was aghast to see both of her large eyes were closed.

"We need to get you out of here," Charlotte sighed.

She helped me up and we swiftly dashed to the nearest exit. We continued to dash from room to room, hallway to hallway until we came across a smaller room with only one entrance. This room was empty as well and I let out a deep sigh. Why were there so many empty rooms?

"You know, today was nice," Charlotte sighed happily as we set up camp.

"Really? Between the 'dark stairway' and the muttations, I thought you'd be downright miserable," I grumbled. "My favorite part was trekking through water for almost the entire day."

"Oh stop it," Charlotte laughed, "I just meant it was peaceful in a sense. For the first time, we weren't in any immediate danger."

"That's true," I muttered.

"It's what we needed. A little rest and relaxation!"

"Now you're going too far and you know it. There is no way we rested or relaxed today," I scolded.

"Maybe you didn't, but I had a dandy time being carried places," Charlotte winked.

"You're such a pest sometimes," I laughed.

"That's why you love me," she sang jokingly. She began to look through her backpack for something. She pulled her canteen and took a small sip from it.

'The anthem is going to come up soon," I spoke aloud.

"Yeah, but no cannons fired today so it's not like we're going to see anyone," She whispered.

After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again, "Do you ever wonder how they die?"

"No," I almost scoffed, "It's none of my business. I think I'm more thankful it's them instead of me… Do you ever wonder?"

"Yes… All the time," Charlotte sighed.

"I bet Davis died relatively quickly," I murmured. When Davis' face appeared in the sky last night, Charlotte was shocked. She didn't seem devastated, but I could tell it was affecting her. Charlotte had gone through quite a bit in the past few days. Of course, life wasn't exactly easy on me either. Being hit with a gigantic shock stick isn't exactly pleasant.

"I can only hope," Charlotte sighed again.

Charlotte was obviously done talking for the night. She curled up by her backpack and closed her eyes. I kept my eyes on the door as I took the first watch. I couldn't believe that tomorrow morning it would be day five. It was just weird to think we had been in the arena almost an entire week.

The Capitol Anthem sang out and I didn't even bother looking up. As soon as it began it was over, and I was surrounded by darkness. I felt myself slowly fading in and out, but I forced myself to stay awake.

"My turn," Charlotte whispered to me.

I nodded slightly and began to lie down. I waited up for a little while longer, to see if a cannon would ring out, but one never did. It was past midnight by now, which meant everyone had made it to the fifth floor… I wondered when time would catch up to someone… When all someone would need was a few more minutes to make it to their safe haven…

**Update :D**

**I hope you guys like this chapter :D I wrote it as soon as I finished my honors test/paper today! It was a great feeling so I had to put it into writing! So tell me what you think and drop a little review :D**


	35. Day Five: Part One: Attack of the Mutts

**Day Five: Attack of the Mutts**

**Part One**

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

I could feel the artificial lighting streaming on my face and I sighed. It was time to get up and face day five. As I opened my eyes, I partially wondered why Ace hadn't wakened me up earlier. She seemed like the girl who liked to get a head start on her day. I sat up and glanced around. Panic gripped my heart.

Ace was gone.

For the first few seconds, I was worried something had happened to her. Then, I looked to my side and noticed my backpack with all my food and water was gone. A chill swept through my body when I realized what had happened.

Ace was the kind of girl who liked to get heard start. She just decided she would get a head start on _me_.

I was shocked that my own district partner had completely stabbed me in the back. I launched my hand to my jacket and felt inside. I was so thankful that all three of my throwing knives were still inside. It seemed she wasn't stealthy enough to steal those from me.

I stood up shakily and felt a pit begin to form in my stomach. My emotions ranged from anger to hurt. I didn't know whether to scold myself for being so trustworthy, or to focus on finding her and ripping her stupid head off.

Hopefully Lyric found her and killed her. Last night, it was my watch shift when it was past midnight and there was no cannon fire. I was going to tell her about Lyric this morning, but she obviously took off. Hopefully Lyric will pay her a little visit and scare the crap out of her.

I let out a small sigh. This wasn't my fault. Not only was she my district partner, but I _saved_ her _life_. I'd be a paranoid freak to think that she'd repay the favor by stabbing me in the back.

I reflexively reached down for my backpack before I remembered I was grabbing at nothing. I walked out of the room we had found last night and into a hallway. I decided to just go left and see what I found. I quickly sprinted down the hall and then took another left. I continued to run aimlessly until I came to fairly big door. The door opened on its own and I felt like it was beckoning me inside.

Usually, when a door randomly opens, that means the Gamemakers want you to go inside. If you don't do what they want, they get pissed and try to kill you. If you do what they want, it is usually dangerous and they're going to try to kill you. Either way, you're screwed.

I took a deep breath and walked into the room. Inside, there were rows and rows of water tanks. Each one appeared to be full of water. The odd thing was each one was empty. There were masks that were used to pump oxygen just floating in the water.

A chill went down my spine when I realized that something was probably in each of these tanks, and now they're gone.

Shit!

Suddenly, the lights went out. I spun around and saw only one thing. There were two glowing red eyes. It seemed to have the outline of gigantic bat, except it had arms and legs. It was carrying a large butcher knife, and the beams shooting from its eyes were locked right on me.

I let out a shriek and dove into one of the rows of tanks. I weaved in and out of different rows, trying to escape. I could barely see anything in front of me, but I could hear the muttation roaring. I heard the continual sound of shattering glass, and I knew it was smashing the tanks trying to reach me.

This mutt seemed so familiar…

Wait, that's because it was! This was the muttation Memory and Sophia fought in the 222nd Hunger Games. Oh shoot, how the heck did they beat it?

I could hear the monster muttation getting closer. It was beginning to gain momentum. I began to full on sprint down a row. The creature did a sharp turn and started to follow me again.

What did they do…?

I suddenly remembered Memory's last ditch effort and decided I had to try it. I pulled out two of my throwing knives and spun around. I waited until the beams from its red eyes were focused on me and I raised my knives. I reflected the beam of light right back into the muttations eyes and the muttation began to holler in pain. It fell over and was clutching its eyes in extreme pain, just like it did four years ago.

I swiftly threw one of my knives right into its hand, and by the way the screeches intensified I could tell it also sank into one of its eyes. I threw my next knife in the general direction of its heart.

I could tell I missed when it continued to scream and I took out my last knife. Memory used her axe to behead it, but I only have these knives. There is no way I could decapitate it!

I ran towards the muttation and threw myself on top of it. It began to thrash frantically, but I on to its leathery skin. When it settled down for a few seconds, I raised my last knife and drove it right into the muttation's chest. I stabbed the muttation in the chest over and over again. I continued to slaughter it until I knew for sure that it was done moving.

The second I stopped stabbing it, the lights came on and I had to cover my eyes. When I opened them, I was greeted by the sight of blood splattered everywhere.

I let out a small noise of disgust and removed my other two knives from the muttations body. I got up to leave, but then I remembered something. I walked over to the muttation's left hand and picked up its discarded knife. It was large, bulky, but it would suffice in a close range fight. I slipped it into my jacket and began to sprint towards the nearest exit. The next time I met a muttation, I _would_ be able to decapitate it. The same goes for the next time I run into a certain _stupid backstabbing liar! _

**District Eleven:**

**Scarlett's POV:**

I casually walked down one of the many hallways as I chomped on some of my jerky. Life really hasn't been that hard for me since I entered the Hunger Games. I got plenty of supplies because Ruth ditched a good chunk of hers, I got to see Davis suffer and die, and I don't have a single injury.

I'd say I'm on my way to the Final Eight easily!

Part of me wondered if my parents were watching me right now. Were they proud that I had efficiently played the games so far? Were they disappointed that I wasn't the perfect son they always wanted? Either way, at least they _were_ paying attention now. They had no choice in the matter!

I couldn't help but smirk at that thought and continued to walk happily down the hallway. I wasn't naïve in the sense that I knew something could go wrong in any second. In fact, I was ready to bolt away at even the hint of danger. However, right now, everything was perfect. So why not enjoy it?

As if the Gamemaker's were reading my mind, I heard a flurry of wings. I glanced behind me to see a storm of… squirrels... flying towards me. Each one had a set of wings and sharp fangs. For some reason, they looked oddly familiar…

I began to sprint down the hallway away from the storm of mutts. I didn't know if they were a threat or not, but I wasn't planning on finding out. For the next few minutes, I just continued to run. I quickly realized that they were corralling me somewhere. Every time I came to fork in the path, one path would have more flying squirrels racing towards me and the other one would be empty.

I thought that this might be a good thing. Maybe I would run into some nice tribute and they would help the innocent thirteen year old fight off the mutts. I would tell the tribute, preferably her, about how I've been alone since poor Davis died. Then I'd use them to get farther in the game and, eventually, stab them in the back.

It wasn't until I turned a corner and saw the Career Pack that I my hopes were dashed. For the few seconds I had before they noticed me, I observed them. The District Three boy was on the ground with bloody bandages encircling him, and his district partner was watching over him like a mother bear Leith was casually sitting in one corner doing nothing. Jordana and Apollo were chatting in one corner of the room, while his little girlfriend was washing more bloody bandages. Camilla was obviously thinking deeply about something, and Lucian was pacing like a mad man. Stark was sitting in the corner playing with his throwing knives, and he was the first one to notice me standing in the doorway.

I heard him cry out and I did the only thing I could think of.

I turned around, and ran straight into the flock of mutts.

I felt the first one land on me and bite me on my shoulder. I pulled out one of my many knives and dispatched of the mutt. I felt other ones running into me and biting me, but I just ran faster. I glanced behind me for a split second and saw a giant swarm of the squirrel mutts enter the room the Careers were in.

I heard a high pitched scream, most likely Asita, and then Camilla yell, "Jordana, Stark, Lucian, go after the little cretin!"

I saw Stark's head pop out of the doorway, and I faced forward. I continued to run through the flock of mutts and I felt every bite mark. I thanked the dear Lord that I didn't feel any kind of burning. These mutts were clearly not poisonous, which meant they were next to harmless. Sure, they could bite me but those 'wounds' would go away in a few days. These mutts were obviously used to either distract tributes or chase them somewhere.

My feet pounded against the ground, and I could hear one of the Careers getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, pain shot through my shoulder and I let out a yelp. I reached behind me and pulled out the knife that was imbedded in my back. Damn Stark and his freaking throwing knives!

I realized quickly that he must have been throwing them for some time, but the flying squirrel mutts must have been in the way.

I finally broke through the swarm of mutts, but just kept running.

After another minute of running, I entered the large room with the glass bottom. It was the room I came through to get to the fifth floor yesterday. I ran swiftly to the nearest door and yanked it open.

I let out a shriek when a mutt was standing in the doorway smiling.

Suddenly, three more doors whipped open and another one exploded. I backed up into the room, and the Careers came into the room too. Stark began to throw another knife at me, but stopped when he saw the other mutts.

The one that was standing in the doorway I opened was Trista from the 225th Hunger Games. She was some sort of elven mutt that traveled with an alliance during the games. She was kind and helpful back then, but now she looked completely evil. Her green eyes were practically bulging out of her head, and her skin was a pale grey color.

The mutt that made the door explode was the witch from the 225th Hunger Games. No one ever really saw her real powers because Paloma took her down when she wasn't paying attention. One thing we did know was that she could bend inanimate objects to her will and make them do things.

Two of the mutts that opened two of the doors were large white creatures. There fur was sleek, and appeared to be as hard as armor. I realized quickly that all these mutts were from recent games past, and that the large white creatures, as well as the flying squirrels, were from the 223rd Hunger Games.

The three mutts behind the last door were three monkeys. The first monkey was red and had no eyes. The second monkey was green and had no ears. The third monkey was blue and had no mouth.

Before anyone could move, the mutts charged forward. All three Careers split up, completely forgetting about me, and ran down different corridors. The monkeys chased Jordana, both white monsters chased Lucian, and the witch flew raced after Stark.

I stared across the room, and just saw Trista smiling at me creepily.

It was time to do what I did best.

Run.

I spun around and sprinted down a hallway I knew none of the Careers went down. I could hear Trista begin to follow me, but I just kept running. After today, I swore I would never run again! Way too much running for a thirteen year old boy.

But, at least I'm not bored anymore…

I raced down the corridor. I continued to run as fast as I could. I felt like Trista was playing with me. I bet she could have gone quite a bit faster than me, but was just waiting for me to be at my weakest. She wanted to watch me squirm.

Then, I saw my escape route. Against the far wall, there was an open elevator shaft. My best skill has always been climbing. During training, I was the fastest climber in the room. Plus, this elevator shaft is obviously the entrance to the next floor. In fact, it might even take me several floors higher!

Trista began to speed up, signaling to me that my hunch was right. If I made it to the elevator shaft, I was home free.

I ran faster than I had all day, ignoring every pain I had in my body. She continued to get closer and closer. I swiftly threw myself through the empty air, and grabbed onto an elevator cable. I scrambled upwards and pulled myself higher as fast as I could. There were two cables fairly close to each other, so I quickly grabbed one with each hand and used them almost like a ladder. I wasn't going as fast as I could because of all my supplies, but it was fast enough.

After a couple minutes, I glanced down to see where Trista was. Oddly enough, she was still at the opening of the elevator shaft, smiling at me. Her smile widened when we made eye contact and she waved at me.

A sickening pit began to form in my stomach.

She was just like the squirrels. She was corralling me.

I heard the sound of something breaking, and then the earsplitting sound of metal grating on metal. I looked up, and saw sparks far off in the distance.

I let out a scream and began to climbs down as fast as I could. I could hear the dropping elevator picking up speed. I quickly loosened my grip so that I could fall faster. I could feel it beginning to burn against the cables, but I just bit my lip. If I didn't do this, I was going to die!

The dropping elevator was even closer, and I finally made it to the opening. I threw myself to the opening, but I didn't clear it completely. Only my upper torso was out of the shaft, and I swiftly threw my backpack over. I frantically pulled myself over the edge.

Then the worst feeling in the world hit me. I let out the loudest scream I had ever allowed to leave my lips. Everything below my knee was in the shaft, and the dropping elevator had destroyed it. I looked behind me and then violently vomited. Everything below my knee was gone, and I even saw _bone_.

Blood began to ooze out of my mouth.

I looked up, and was shocked by who I saw.

"Help… me…" I begged. I felt like Davis when he looked to me for help. The main difference was that he was savable. I'm as good as dead.

"I'm sorry…" the district nine boy, Hawk, muttered. He turned me over and stripped me of my jacket. I remembered that he was quite good with throwing knives. He also took my backpack that was full of food, water, rope, and flint.

"Ah, finish your end of the bargain, Hawk," Trista chimed. She suddenly came into view. "I told you I could get all your supplies back, and more, and all you'd have to do is finish off my hard work."

"I didn't know that'd mean killing this kid! I thought you were talking about Ace," Hawk growled.

"Don't you love manipulation?" Trista giggled, "I didn't know who I was going to get the supplies from. This was just a lucky… _break_"

She pointed to my legs on the last word and giggled even louder.

"Fine!" Hawk growled.

He put both his hands under my arm pits and whispered, "Sorry, kid…"

He then chucked me into the elevator shaft and I felt myself begin to fall. I vomited up more blood mid-fall.

So this was how it ended? I had everything under control… I had so many plans that I didn't get to use… I was going to win the Hunger Games and then finally… _finally_… my parents would notice me and finally just be proud in the fact that I was _their_ son…

I guess I just wasn't lucky enough…

**District Two:**

**Jordana's POV:**

"Bring it on you damn _monkeys_," I howled.

The three monkeys were circling around me, practically tormenting me. I had a tight grip on my axe and was about ready to send it hurdling into one of their skulls.

Suddenly, the red one without eyes leapt in my general direction, but it was easy to dodge. The green monkey with no ears, however, had better aim and was latched onto my head the second I wasn't looking at it. I let out a howl of pain as it tugged at my hair. I reached back behind my head and grabbed it by the tail. I pulled as hard as I could, but it wouldn't let go. The blue monkey with no mouth climbed up my back and began to swipe at my neck, while the red monkey found my leg and sank its teeth into my calf.

"I. Will. Kill. You. _All_!" I screamed as I dropped my axe. I grabbed the blue monkey and began to bang it against the wall. At the same time, I began to slam my leg into the wall, jarring the red monkey. I swiftly used the blue monkey to beat the red monkey, and then grabbed both of them by the tails. I slammed both of them against each other so hard that I heard an audible crack, and I tossed them down the hallway.

I bashed the back of my head into one of the walls, and the green monkey fell off. I swiped my axe off the floor and brought it right into the mutt's skull.

I breathed in and out deeply a few times. That was one of the most _annoying_ things that have ever happened to me. Those monkeys make Asita seem almost _pleasant_ to be around!

I stormed down the hallway and managed to find my way back to the giant room with a bunch of doors. By now, that little twerp was probably off and laughing his butt off at how he escaped from the Careers. I hate stupid kids!

I began to walk back the way I came and sighed. Sometimes I wish I hadn't volunteered for this. Sure, it was either volunteer or spend the rest of my life in my brother's shadow, but this was getting to be even worse than the latter option. I was stuck listening to Cami prattle on about nothing, and have to watch Asita practically flaunt the fact that Apollo is her boy toy in my face. Well, we'll see who gets the last laugh…

Although, I had to admit, I did manage to find a little respect for her after yesterday. Ever since Thomas was injured by Apollo, she has constantly been taking care of Thomas. She's changed his bandages multiple times, restitched his wound at least twice, and has always had her eye on him. I didn't know Asita had it in her to be so… I don't know, not self absorbed?

Suddenly, a cannon shot rang out through the arena. My pace quickened slightly. I knew the Careers could take care of themselves, but that could have been for one of my allies…

Maybe it would be a good thing if one of my allies went down. It would make the competition easier for me!

After another few minutes of walking, I heard a scream and started running. I knew that scream only because of the number of times I had heard it. Only Asita could let out such a bloodcurdling, high pitched wail. I made it to the place where our camp was set up and froze.

Inside there were countless corpses of the squirrel mutts. Mixed in with the squirrel mutts were the corpses of these winged serpents from the 223rd Hunger Games. The thing that caught my full attention was the grinning dragon in the middle of the room.

_Jordana, I'm so glad you could make it._

The voice that wasn't my own resounded in my head. I racked my brain to remember where this dragon was from…

The duel in the 223rd Hunger Games. It asked two of the tributes questions, and whoever it deemed right left alive. Whoever it deemed wrong it ate.

I glanced over at the right side of the room. Thomas was pushed up against the wall and Valhalla was hovering over him. Cami and Apollo were in front of Valhalla and Thomas, trying to defend them I suppose. Leith and Asita were on the left side of the room by a fairly large hole in the wall. I quickly deduced that the dragon had forced its way into the room. The larger group of Careers scurried to the other side of the room, while Leith and Asita ran the other way.

_Well, aren't you the observant one. _

I could hear the sarcasm seeping through the dragon's voice in my head. It was irritating knowing that this dragon could read our minds and reply to us telepathically. I waited for some other smart ass comment, but none came. I guess this dragon was far too busy to torment me.

Suddenly, I remembered one crucial detail. In the 223rd Hunger Games, the dragon was only talking to two people. This mutt was designed to only deal with two people… What if…

I tried to look at the dragon, but its head was facing towards the larger group of Careers. I was by its side, while Leith and Asita were by the dragon's tail. However, what I could see was Apollo. He had a look of fierce determination on his face. I had only seen this look once before, and that was during training when I 'hit' Asita. He only looked that intense when he was defending someone. But he wasn't…

Before I could even draw a conclusion, the dragon lowered its head. I saw the skin on the side of its head stretch, which gave me the impression that it was _smiling_. Perhaps to torment them.

Maybe I was right when I thought that the dragon couldn't read anyone's mind. Because, if it could, then it would have known that Apollo was going to leap at it and stab his sword into its snout.

The dragon reared back, but Apollo held onto the hilt of his sword. I was frozen in place, but I heard Apollo yell, "Run!"

The first person to move was Cami. She zoomed right in between the dragon's two front legs, picked up any and all straggling supplies, and kept running. Leith was right behind her, and they were nearing the giant hole in the wall.

"_No_," I heard someone yell, "You can't _leave_ him!"

I looked over at the source of the noise and saw it was Valhalla. At first, I thought she was talking about Apollo, but I quickly realized she was referring to Thomas. Valhalla was trying to carry him, but she almost wasn't strong enough to drag him. The dragon began to flail about, and I heard her let out a scream as it almost crushed them. I looked back up at Apollo and saw he was holding on for dear life, putting his entire weight into pushing to sword deeper into the snout.

Valhalla cried out for help once more, but Cami and Leith were both long gone. They left Thomas to die.

I was about to do the same because I would have to risk my own life to get over to her, when I saw someone running under the dragon. Asita rushed over to Valhalla's side, and swung Thomas' arm around her shoulders. Valhalla and Asita both began to drag Thomas out of the room at a slow, but steady place. I rolled my eyes and let out a deep sigh.

There was no way I was ever going to be upstaged by Asita.

I ran towards them, almost being crushed twice in the process, and signaled for them to move. Asita and Valhalla both dropped Thomas and he let out a yelp of pain. I swiftly picked him up and threw him over my shoulders like he was a bag of rocks. I began to sprint towards the hole, not even checking to see if my allies were behind me.

I made it to the hole in the wall, and looked to see if Cami or Leith were in sight. As expected, they were both long gone. I put Thomas on the floor and spun around. Asita and Valhalla were both behind me.

'"Get Thomas as far away as you can from here. I'm going to stay and make sure Apollo gets out of this alive," I barked.

Valhalla rushed over to Thomas, but Asita didn't budge. "It kills me that, for the first time, there is something that you can do for him that I can't."

I couldn't help but chuckle under my breath.

"Believe me, as sad as I am to say it, I'd switch places with you any day when it comes to Apollo," I admitted.

"Just try not to get yourself killed," she said sincerely.

Then, for a split second, we had a weird bonding moment. For a second, we completely understood each other and respected one another.

And then it was gone as fast as it came.

"Of course, it would lessen the competition," she prattled on.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you win by default," I quipped.

With that last comment, she let out one last laugh and ran over to Thomas. Valhalla and her began to drag him away, and turned back to the dragon.

"Ready or not, here I come," I yelled as I charged towards the mutt.

**District One:**

**Stark's POV:**

"Ready or not, here I come," the witch mutt yelled.

I gripped my two of my throwing knives, ready to kill at any second. I managed to outrun her for quite some time, but I eventually ran into a large storage room. Right now, I was hiding behind a fairly large wooden crate, and was practically wedged between it and the wall.

For the first time since the games started, I was completely alone. Well, if you didn't count the witch mutt that was trying to find me and then kill me. I didn't have the Careers to rely on. I couldn't expect Lucian to take over and slowly chop up the enemy bit by bit. I couldn't rely on the fact that Leith, Cami, Jordana, or Apollo would gladly swoop in and save the day if I got in the tight fix. Heck, I couldn't even rely on Asita's fierce determination when it came to no one gets left behind.

I was completely and utterly _alone_.

"Come out, my pretty," the witch crooned.

Still, even though I was constantly surrounded by people, I was on the outskirts. Even back in District One, I was on the outskirts. I was never really noticeable, and no one ever really seemed to care… That's what made me such a good assassin.

Of course, being such a good assassin is what got me put in the Hunger Games anyways.

I shook myself out of my funk. Okay, this witch had a head the size of at least one third of my body. Her eyes were as big as my head. I had an extremely big target. However, her true weakness was close combat. Sadly, that was my weakness too. Plus, if she saw my knife coming, she might be able to deflect it. I had no idea what her powers were, but so far I had seen her shoot balls of fire out of her hands and make things explode by just looking at them.

Yeah, a surprise attack was my best bet.

I tried to hear any sort of sound. Last time she talked, I knew she wasn't very far away. Still, I had no idea whether she had gotten closer or farther away.

I slowly scooted towards the edge of the crate. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I peered around the side of the crate.

Nothing.

I quickly popped my head over the top and, again, nothing.

Where had she gone?

I sat back down and brought my knees closer to my chest. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be here! I never wanted to be here! The mayor rigged the _freaking_ _reaping_ for goodness sakes! I just wanted to go home… That's all I truly wanted right now…

"I see you," a voice croaked. I swiftly turned to my right to see a giant blue eye only a few feet away from me.

I gasped and quickly brought my knife up. Before I could even think of stabbing her, she was gone. I rolled out of the place I was wedged and in good time too. The box I had previously been hiding behind exploded.

I climbed on top of a nearby container and leapt to another container. I quickly began to hop from container to container. Every time I leapt off a container, the one behind me would explode. I continued to leap as I glanced to my right. She was hovering in the middle of the room, smiling maliciously. In mid jump, I threw one of my knives. She smoothly hovered out of its way, not even blinking.

I threw two more knives and each time she dodged them with ease. While my attention was preoccupied, I missed a step. I went hurtling towards the floor.

I hit my head fairly hard against it, but just leapt to my feet and began to run. I bobbed and weaved in and out of rows of random stuff. Things were exploding everywhere around me, and I could feel the chaos in the air.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through me. I let out a yell and fell to the floor. I couldn't see it, but I knew that witch must have thrown a fire ball straight at me. It must have hit me in the upper back.

I bit down on my lip and blinked away the tears. Without event thinking, I got up and began to run again. After a few seconds of running, I realized that the same thing would happen again, and I looked around for something solid. I found my answer, and dove behind a large metal pole. I knocked on it as hard as I could to make sure it was solid.

There was not ringing, which was a good sign.

Try to blow this up, witch!

I heard a whizzing sound, and could feel the heat when the ball of fire made contact with the other side of the pole.

I peered around the pole and saw the witch just hovering in place. She shot another fire ball and I hid behind my barrier again. As soon as the ball of fire hit, I got out from behind the pole. Right when I threw my knife, she shot a fire ball at me.

The fireball hit me square in the chest.

I went flying backwards into a wooden crate. I could hear items breaking, and I could also feel something imbedded in my back. I scrambled to my feet, and saw that there was broken glass mixed in with the wood.

I also saw blood was beginning to drip onto the floor, but I disregarded this fact for now. I had to focus on surviving this battle first.

I could hear the witch screaming in complete agony. I noticed she wasn't hovering in the air anymore and I stepped into one of the aisles. She was lying on the ground, tossing and turning.

My knife had gone straight into her left eye.

I took out another knife and threw it at her head. Almost as if she sensed it, she stopped rolling on the ground and launched herself into the air.

"You… You did this to me!" she screeched.

It was absolutely disgusting to see how her left eye was oozing blood and other liquids. She flew straight towards me, fire emitting from her mouth. I frantically threw two more knives at her. One of them went into her other eye, and the other one hit her in the nose.

However, she didn't back down. She just continued to fly towards me and tackled me to the ground. I let out a cry of agony as the glass went farther up into my back.

The fire shot out of her mouth burning my face. I let out another scream of pain before I wiggled my arm out and drove a knife straight into her gut.

The flames immediately stopped, and she ceased moving. I pulled myself out from underneath her, groaning in pain. Right as I used a box of cargo to help me to my feet, she was looking right at me. I knew she couldn't see me, but her eyes were staring _right at me_.

Then, she let out the most bone chilling, terrifying laugh I have ever heard. It was so high pitched that I covered my ears and fell to my knees. I looked at her one last time, and she was just grinning ear to ear. She opened her mouth, and the last thing I saw was a flood of black liquid coming straight at me.

I can't even fully describe what happened next.

The second that vile liquid touched me, I just began screaming. At first, it was the most painful thing I had ever felt. I couldn't see anything past the darkness and every inch of my body was on fire. I had no idea if I was upright or on the ground. I couldn't even remember my own name. All I could think about was the intense pain.

Suddenly, the pain began to ease, and I could feel slightly again. I continued to scream, but my mouth began to get clogged up. I realized that the black liquid was now hardening, turning into almost a plastic. I tried to scream, but now I couldn't breathe. The pain was still there, and I wanted to scream, but I couldn't _breathe_! I couldn't see anything but the black liquid. I began to lose any rational thoughts I had. My younger brother flashed into my head, but before I could even think of any emotion that associates with him, I was sinking. I felt as if I was just sinking underwater, except I knew logically I couldn't even be moving. The darkness became even more prominent, and I faded. I just faded into nothing…

**Eulogies!**

**Scar- I'm going to miss you… You were my little evil genius D: But, I'm sorry to say, I've had your death planned since before training… As soon as I saw that your main skill was climbing, my first thought concerning the arena is that I wanted you to die in an elevator shaft. Of course, the scene kept changing, and I never thought I would involve a non-Career tribute in it, but it happens… So yeah I'm sorry, but it was your time.**

**Stark – The silent Career. I know you were never really a big 'star' per say, but I always knew you were there. You were kind of like the 'big brother' of the group. You were always there, always watching, and you were constantly in my mind. I swear, I was always of thinking of the small details I could do with you and see if people noticed them. You were, by far, one of the best tributes for me to play around with.**

**So, yeah, sorry for the long time no update D: It would have been sooner, but I wrote a one-shot (I was struck with inspiration) and if you love me, you should go read it and review ;D Lots of love and brownie points from me if you do ;D **

**So, tell me what you think! I've been planning this chapter for awhile, you know, when all the mutts from games past come out :D I hope it was a nice surprise for some of my long term readers who remember these mutts :D So tell me what you think of the deaths, and the mutts, and just everything! I love you all :D Oh, and hey, this one was pretty long! I think I'm getting my mojo back :D**


	36. Day Five: Part Two: Goodbye

**Day Five: Goodbye**

**Part Two:**

* * *

><p><strong>District Three:<strong>

**Valhalla's POV:**

"There has to be something else you can do," I whispered sharply to Asita.

"I'm sorry, Valhalla, I don't know what else to do."

I stared at Thomas' unconscious form. I knew it was too late. He had lost so much blood. Still, I couldn't help but continue to hope that something miraculous would happen. Some deep part of me hoped that someone would send him medicine. I hoped he would magically be okay from some high tech Capitol medicine. But, to the Capitol, he was disposable. He was just a typical District Three tribute. They thought that he was lucky to make it past the bloodbath. They had complete and utter control over whether he lived or died.

And they made their decision before any of us even set foot in the arena.

A sudden surge of anger sprouted within me and I glared at Asita.

"Why don't you ask one of your sponsors to send something, hmm? Why don't you do something!"

"You know my mentors wouldn't send something to help another tribute," Asita replied.

"That's right because it's all about getting you out of here. You and your pretty little face," I spat.

"Valhalla, I know you're upset, bu-"

"Oh just shut up. We all know the only reason you have any sponsors is because you're pretty to look at. No one would want to see your body lying on the cold, hard ground dying."

Asita let out a sigh as she began to change Thomas' bandages again. When we got away from the dragon muttation, Thomas's wounds broke open again. The healing that was beginning to take place was fragile at best and being dragged through a room full of danger made things quite worse.

"I know you're ups-," Asita began to repeat.

"No," I interrupted, "I'm furious! This isn't fair! This all happened because you're boyfriend decided he couldn't aim straight and sent a knife straight into Thomas!"

"It was an accident, Valhalla. You know how sorry I am that it happened. Apollo wa-"

"I find it amusing," I began as I stood up, "that you haven't called Apollo your boyfriend once, yet other people do. Maybe I should start calling him what he really is. Just another person who can easily get you on your knees."

Asita froze and dropped the bandages she was wrapping. She slowly stood up and glared at me with her dark eyes.

"I have spent my time ever since the accident taking care of Thomas. I've been doing every single thing I learned at the first aid station to save his life. I don't care if you're pissed at Apollo, or Cami, or the world. You have no _right_ to take it out on me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," I spat. She began to turn back to Thomas when I murmured, "slut."

She quickly spun back and shouted, "Fine, Valhalla. You change the bandages! You restitch the wound! You apply a cold rag to his head to try and make his temperature go down! Since you're so brilliant, you fix him! I'm absolutely done being the butt of every joke around here and I'm through being this alliance's punching bag!"

Before I could reply I heard a voice chirp, "Calm down, ladies. Unwanted guests might here you."

I turned around and saw Cami and Leith sauntering into the room.

"Where the hell have you been?" Asita snapped, obviously fuming.

"Searching for the entrance to the next floor," Cami replied coolly.

"You shouldn't have left us like that," Asita barked, "We needed you back there."

"It's called self-preservation. Perhaps you should try it sometime," Cami quipped.

"No, it's called cowardice," I interjected.

Cami whipped her head towards me and frowned. "Did you say something?"

"Yes, I called you and Leith _cowards_."

"Listen, you little bi-"

"No, you listen!" I interrupted for, what felt like, the hundredth time today, "Thomas is dying! Asita and I almost died trying to save him! Jordana and Apollo could be near death by now, and Lucian and Stark are nowhere to be seen! You're supposed to be the leader! You left your alliance behind to die!"

"First off," Cami responded calmly as she picked dirt from under her nails, "Lucian can handle himself. If anything, we should be relieved that he is out there attempting to slaughter some tribute. Second, Stark will be coming back any minute now. He needs us. Third, I have no clue what happened to Jordana and Apollo, nor do I care. Fourth, if you almost died trying to save Thomas, it's your own fault. You should have just left him. He's useless."

The blood in my body began to boil. I glared at Cami and felt my muscles begin to tense. I wrapped my grip around one of the knives the Careers gave me, prepared to pounce.

Then the cannon went off.

My body went from tense to frigid. I couldn't move a single muscle in my body, too afraid to even look at Thomas.

"It wasn't him, Valhalla," Asita whispered to me.

I glanced over at him, relieved to see his chest rising and falling. It was soon replaced with fear as I saw how labored and difficult his breaths were.

"Apollo," I heard Asita whisper again.

At first, I thought she said it because she was worried that cannon was for him. Then, I could feel her moving and glanced behind me. Asita ran into Apollo's arms as he and Jordana entered the room.

"Thank God," Asita said as she clung to him.

Apollo and Jordana had bruises and scrapes across their faces. I could tell from how Jordana walked that she hurt her ankle and Apollo appeared to have hurt his left arm as it lay uselessly at his side.

"Who do you think that was for?" Jordana asked as she sat on the ground.

"Could be anyone," Leith shrugged.

"Yeah, it's most likely no one," Cami said nervously.

For a second, I let all my emotions calm down to make a quick observation. Two cannons had fired since she sent Jordana, Lucian, and Stark after that little child. One cannon for Stark and one cannon for Lucian.

Cami showing concern for another human being? Who knew.

"Valhalla," I heard someone say softly.

I looked down at Thomas and kneeled down by him.

"Do you… have any water?"

"Of course," I replied as I motioned for someone to bring me some of our water. I placed my hands around his face and moved his head so that it was in my lap.

"Don't you dare. He's almost dead anyways," Cami growled.

I turned around and saw Cami glaring at a frozen Asita who had her hand around a bottle of water.

"Cami," Asita started.

"It's a waste of our supplies. You've seen how much more blood he's lost. He could die any second," Cami said coldly as she took a seat on a crate.

I looked down at Thomas' face and let out a shaky breath. His eyelids were fluttering and his skin was extremely pale. Sweat ran down his face and closed my eyes. I knew Cami was right.

It was time to say goodbye.

I knew I had very little evidence to put with the fact that Thomas might be my half-brother. Most likely, it was just a coincidence and we have no connection to each other besides what district we live in. Still, I couldn't help but think of him as family. And family was the most important thing to me in the world. I rarely thought about it and most times I denied it, but family was even more important to me than _me_.

I'm not saying I would have given my life up for him. I'm not saying that if it came down to us in the Final Two that I wouldn't kill him. But I'm also saying that I might have. Who knows how much I could have changed in the next week or so. I could have become a selfless person. I could have done something that helped someone else even at the cost of my own life.

But, the hope of that ever happening died as soon as Thomas let out a gasp and a cannon shot fired through the arena.

When I heard that sound and opened my eyes, I felt like the world stopped for a minute. I looked down at Thomas. Pale skin, closed eyes, dark hair. It was odd to think that he almost didn't look any different. If I didn't know any better, I could assume he was in a deep sleep. I expected to feel some sort of despair. To feel a pang in my chest or to weep like my mother did when she and father divorced. I expected to feel something, but I only felt empty. However, it wasn't the cold, logical emptiness I had before I was thrown in the Hunger Games. It was a _lonely_, almost _painful_, cold, and logical emptiness.

I moved Thomas' head off of my lap and stood up. You could cut the silence with a knife. Perhaps they expected me to yell and scream, or break down and sob. Maybe they thought I was going to pull out some invention or trap and attempt to kill them all. Instead, I simply began to walk towards the exit of the room.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Cami asked.

"I'm going for a walk," I responded as I grabbed all of my supplies.

"Not with those you aren't!" Cami snarled as she ripped my alchemy kit out of my hand. "You are still part of this alliance. You aren't ditching us just because your wimpy district partner died."

"You don't control me," I replied calmly.

"No, but I could kill your right now."

"If anyone is going to kill her, it's going to be me," Leith growled. A few minutes ago, I would have actually felt some small feeling about the fact Leith still despised me because my trap killed Oceana. Now, I could care less.

"I'll be back in an hour," I said as I dropped all of my supplies, save for one backpack with food, water, and a knife in it.

I began walking and I could hear Cami begin to follow me.

"Just let her go. She'll be back," Jordana responded.

I heard someone mention going to find the entrance to the sixth floor, but I tuned the rest out. As soon as I was out of sight, I began to run. I had to put as much distance between Thomas' corpse and myself. After several minutes, I dove into a small room full of empty vials and stood with my back against the door.

I breathed deeply in and out.

This was all _Apollo's_ fault! I was going to kill him! I was going to slowly rip his heart out!

But first, I had to think of a way to get away from the Career's alliance. I couldn't work with them any longer. I had to be on my own again.

I looked up at the ceiling and whispered, "Please… Help me. I need to escape…."

I waited for something, anything. Nothing came.

I grabbed the knife out of my backpack and smashed it into a shelf of vials.

The glass shattered and I let out a small, frustrated shriek. I continued to break empty vials, until I heard a soft rumbling. It got slowly louder until the room was filled with a brilliant, white light.

A small case was on the ground and I quickly opened the sponsor's gift. Inside, there were two vials with a greenish liquid in them. There were also two vials with a pure white liquid. Next to the vials, I found two syringes.

An idea immediately came to mind and I smiled to myself. It was time to kill two birds with one stone. Not only was I going to get away from the Careers, but I _was_ going to rip dear Apollo's heart out. It was time to take back control…

* * *

><p><strong>Head Gamemaker:<strong>

**Lavender's POV:**

"She's definitely going to shake things up, isn't she?" I muttered to myself.

I watched as Valhalla stuffed her sponsor's gift in her backpack and began to pick through different vials trying to find the highest quality ones.

I decided it was that time of the day where I should check up on every tribute still in the arena individually.

With a few simple strokes of the keyboard, every single tribute was up on my screen. Stark, the poor dear, was still covered in goop. The intricate floor system simply couldn't free his body from the hardened black substance. Oh well, I guess we'd have to wait until the end of the games until we could extract him. Hopefully he didn't decompose too much…

Camilla was simply pacing back and forth, obviously worried about Lucian. Camilla was a smart girl, but she was starting to let her emotions get the better of her. Of course, her plan was working perfectly. When the Careers broke up, which would hopefully be soon, she wouldn't even be a blip on any of their radars.

Jordana was searching for the entrance to the next floor with Leith. The entrance to the sixth floor was actually quite obvious. It was actually just a staircase in the middle of the floor. It was so painfully obvious that most tributes hadn't found it yet. Almost all of them were looking in every nook and cranny for hidden buttons or levers. In fact, the entrances to most of the floors were fairly simple. They had to be for what we had in store.

Apollo and Asita were walking hand in hand, looking for the entrance as well. In fact, the way they were headed, they would probably stumble across it. I had to admit; even my nonexistent heart twitched seeing them so happy. I was disgusted, yet intrigued at the same time. Their 'love', if you could call it that, was strong and flimsy at the same time. It was strong because they were very compatible as a couple. If they had met under any different circumstances, they would have had that kind of love you read about and think doesn't exist at all. Its flimsy because with they were both waiting to find some reason or evidence that the other was using them. A 'love' built without trust is practically nonexistent, but they somehow made it work. For now, anyways…

Even though I didn't need to check in with Leith since he was with Jordana, I couldn't help but think of him quickly as I scanned over his screen. He was so closed off since the death of Oceana that he appeared to be dead on the inside. Yet, I could tell he wasn't. He was just biding his time until he could gut Valhalla alive. It was almost amusing how similar Valhalla and Leith were, in that sense. They would make the perfect alliance. A similar outlook on the games, mixed with her brains and his brawns, and you had a force to be reckoned with. Too bad they hated each other.

Winnifred and Admyer managed to find the entrance and were currently sitting in a room on the sixth floor. Winnifred was preparing a small dinner, while Admyer went through their supplies, taking inventory. Those two found the entrance to the sixth floor before most people woke up today. That meant that they avoided the mob of muttations that flooded the floor a couple hours later. They were also quite the alliance. Winnifred was amazing when it came to figuring things out, such as puzzles or mazes. Adymer, on the other hand, was very 'street smart' and seemed to have a great intuition. I had high hopes for them, personally.

Lucy was on the sixth floor, mindlessly wandering. We hadn't given her any orders in a while, which gave her nothing to do. I was, in fact, bored with her. However, President Raven still wanted me to keep her around. So I did just that.

I heard a small shriek and turned my attention straight to Asita's monitor. Apollo and her found the entrance and were currently kissing. Yep, I mostly just felt disgust.

When I turned my attention to Lucian's screen, I found that he had found Jordana and Leith. They were currently walking around, talking. Well, at least Camilla would be happy once they came back.

Jacqie was fighting a muttation on the fifth floor. It was just one of the people muttations from the 225th Hunger Games. It was a fairly large man, so I could see why she was having some issues. Oh well, she'd survive.

Hopefully.

I smiled when I saw Lyric, the survivor. He should be dead. He should have been dead a long time ago, yet he just seems to come back for more. He was currently tending to his plethora of injuries on the sixth floor with an assortment of medical supplies he found. Again, I had high hopes for Lyric. If he could survive near starvation, dehydration, fighting and _losing_ against four tributes, I was certain he could handle almost anything I threw at him.

Ace was currently stalking Ruth on the sixth floor. Although her stalking and stealing technique was boring to watch, it was quite effective. She hadn't gone a day without eating or drinking something. I was still surprised she left Hawk high and dry. I didn't realize just how callous she was. I, frankly, admired her for it.

Speaking of Hawk, he was not doing so well mentally. He had enough supplies to last for several days and around twenty throwing knives. Hawk was totally set, in my opinion. Yet, he still seemed pretty shaken up about Scarlett. He saw this kid without _legs_, pleading for help, and he shoved him down an elevator shaft. That would have scarred me if I was a sixteen year old boy who grew up in District Nine. At least, I think it would…

Charlotte and Adam were currently just wandering about the fifth floor. I had no idea what they were looking for, but they were certainly getting ready to stumble upon something. Maybe they would turn back or something.

I reminded myself to check back on them once I finished the remaining two tributes and I turned towards Ruth's screen. Ruth was looking for a place to set up camp for the night. However, she was taking a pattern like route, going through corridors I knew she had already passed through. My first thought was that she was just forgetful, but it had happened enough times that I suspected something was up. Maybe she knew Ace was following her, or maybe she was just an idiot.

But we all knew Ruth was a lot of things, but idiotic wasn't one of them.

Alexei, the first male tribute from District Thirteen. I was happy when I saw he had enough sponsors for them to send him something for his arm. He cauterized it before he got the gift, which was very smart of him, and then used the gift to wrap it and try to prevent infection. He also was sent a good portion of pain medication, which meant he was doing pretty well. His new strategy, now that he had the map, seemed to be getting to the surface as soon as possible. He was currently on the ninth floor and was getting ready to go to sleep. He knew the other tributes were far below and seemed to be relaxed, despite the fact we could still send some muttations after him.

Speaking of sending muttations…

I turned towards Charlotte and Adam and saw they were still headed towards it. I sighed and pressed a few buttons. The mutts would be upon them in any minute. Have fun fighting those off, my sweet little tributes…

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

"This is such a pain," Adam sighed.

"We need to find our way up to the next floor, Adam. That requires searching for it, because it's not just going to appear before us," I reasoned.

"I'm just saying we should at least take a break of some sort. We're not going to be able to find anything if we're so focused for long periods of time. In fact, we're more likely to miss it," Adam argued.

"While that is true, we both know the real reason you want a break is because you're lazy. I know for a fact your brain is working just fine."

"You're no fun…" Adam muttered to himself.

"Stop acting like a child."

"Stop acting like an adult!"

"Stop being an idiot!"

"I know you are but what am I," Adam chanted.

"An idiot!"

"I know you ar-"

I quickly slapped so hard across the face that he stumbled over his feet. We glared at each other for a few seconds before we broke into laughter. Our alliance sometimes seems like a bad idea for this very reason. We tend to argue a lot, and we treat everything like it is one big joke. The upside is that we work really well together and we are never really down in the dumps.

"Come on, we need to keep pushing forward," I said once we were done laughing.

Before Adam could respond, an arrow went whizzing by my head. I let out a startled yelp and dove behind a large tank full of a strange blue liquid. Adam shuffled over to where I was and hid behind it as well.

I peered out from behind our hiding place and saw a woman standing on the upper level of this room. She had her bow drawn, ready to fire again. In a quick glance, I could see that she was wearing very fine clothes and had on several expensive looking pieces of jewelry. I heard the twang of the bow and ducked back behind our hiding place.

"Which tribute is it?" Adam asked.

"It isn't a tribute. It's the Queen from the 225th Hunger Games," I replied.

The Queen of the arena in the 225th Hunger Games was beautiful. She ruled the land and everyone adored her. However, we really never got to see any of her skills since one of the tributes ended up coming up with a scheme to take her place. Apparently, the Queen was a master at archery.

"Okay… Well how are we going to get to her?"

I quickly tried to think of the layout of the room. The stairs to the small overhang she was on were on the other side of the room.

"I guess we're going to need to split up. We both try to distract her and one of us will have to get to the stairs. Once she loses the advantage of higher ground and distance, she should be easy to take out," I explained.

"Okay, sounds like a plan!"

Then, without another word, Adam leaped out from behind the tank and started running.

He just always had to rush off into battle.

I heard the twang of the bow and stealthily crawled around the edge. I stayed as close to the wall and tried to stay somewhat hidden in the shadows. The Queen was fairly focused on Adam. Every time she fired an arrow, he'd hit the deck. He would then pop his head up somewhere else and she would shoot again. This continued to happen as I slid against the wall.

I was almost three quarters of the way there when she noticed me. We made eye contact and I pushed off the wall. I sprinted towards some cover of crates. Right when I was about to make it to the cover, a burst of pain shot through my body.

I ducked under a crate and glanced at the arrow that was lying on the ground only a few feet away. A small sliver of muscle, most likely fat, was sticking out on the end of the arrow. The arrow nicked my left calf and I simply bit my lip. This was nothing compared to some of the other injuries I've seen arrows inflict in other Hunger Games.

I heard the sound of something banging against metal and I knew Adam must have made it to the stairs. I peeked my head over the crates and saw the Queen backing up slowly, arrow poised to fire. Adam peered his head above the small opening and she fired. He quickly ducked and then finished his climb up the stairs. The Queen began to pull an arrow out and I knew she would fire before Adam could make it to her with his steel claw gloves. I launched myself over the crates and sprinted towards the overhang.

I spun my lasso several times before I sent it towards her. I managed to wrap it around the top part of the bow and I pulled. She, caught off guard, let go and the bow came flying towards me. I dodged it as it fell and untied my lasso.

Within the time it took me to detach the rope from the bow, the Queen had pulled out a long, slender sword. She and Adam were fighting. She had an elegant grace in her fighting style, while Adam was almost barbaric in his. She dodged his heavy attacks with ease and had no problem counterstriking. She managed to create a deep gash on his left arm and he let out a howl of pain.

She went in for another jab, but by then I had my lasso flying at her. I used the same trick I tried last time and had it wrap around the sword. This time she wasn't caught by surprise and she just tugged back. I saw Adam lung at her and she fell to the ground. The momentum made the sword cut through my rope and I quickly sprinted up the steps. By the time I got up to the overhang, Adam had sunk his claws deep in her chest.

He stepped up and the first thing he said was, "My arm hurts."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Yes, that tends to happen when someone cuts you with a sword."

"Speaking of a sword," Adam smiled, "Two new weapons!"

I rolled my eyes again. "Adam, neither one of us knows how to use a sword or a bow."

"We can learn," he beamed.

"Fine, I'll go grab the bow and you can gather her sword and sheathe of arrows. But I am not going to waste my valuable time learning how to use these weapons. In training, I couldn't use either of those weapons to save my life."

He didn't respond because he was now engrossed at the long, slender sword. As I walked down the stairs, I yelled back up, "Oh, and please don't try to feel up the corpse."

"No promises. I haven't been with a woman in quite some time."

"It's only been two or so weeks," I spat back.

"Exactly."

I rolled my eyes. For someone who acted like such a child, he was certainly used to having sex. Sure, almost every girl was turned off by his personality, arrogance, and self-righteousness. However, that didn't mean that they wouldn't sleep with him. He did have an amazing body, an amazing face, and a butt that was just asking to be squeezed…

I stopped what I was doing, shocked at my own thoughts. Obviously, I haven't gotten enough sleep lately.

Right when I picked up the bow, I glanced at one of the crates. It was partially opened and I walked over to it. Almost every crate either empty or impossible to open. It was rare when one had something in it that was useful and accessible.

I shoved the lid aside and looked into the crate.

What the hell?

"What are you looking at?" Adam asked as he came up behind me.

"Look at this…"

Adam looked into the crate and looked just as confused as I did. He reached down and lifted it out of the crate. It was a simple black, metal ball that was about the size of my head.

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"I don't know, but look at this."

I grabbed a piece of paper.

_If you hide hot ember, the smoke will betray you. Congratulations, you found the special item hidden on the fifth floor! I hope it serves you well! - Lavender._

"How would this help us?" Adam asked as he read it over my shoulder.

"I don't know, but we should keep it. It's obviously important," I reasoned.

"But… it's heavy…" he complained.

"Which is why," I chirped, "You'll be carrying it."

"But Charlotte!"

"No buts!"

"It's not fair!"

"Stop acting like a child!"

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

I knew I was being followed.

The tribute was definitely stealthy, but I grew up in a place where people were constantly sneaking around. Sometimes they were sneaking into the forest, sometimes they were sneaking home after a long night of partying, and _sometimes_ they were sneaking up on you to try to pickpocket or mug you. So, I started to pay attention to small noises back in District Twelve. I would occasionally hear the slight tap of a footstep or something getting bumped.

After going around in some shape several times, I had noticed both of those noises. Except, these were so quiet that you wouldn't notice them unless you were straining your hearing or were specifically listening for them.

Now, I was just trying to decide what to do. I could turn around and try to chase them down. I could try to run away. I could just stop and wait. There were so many options, but the best options really depended on who the tribute was.

I already knew it wasn't any of the Careers. They were about as quiet as a hoard of muttations. Frankly, I narrowed down my list to only three people. There was the frail boy from five, the quiet girl from six, or the tall boy from nine. The tall boy knew how to throw knives, so running was a bad idea. The boy from five could probably manage to get the better of me if I just waited. As for the girl from six, if I tried to chase her she could outrun me easily.

So there was only one option in my mind.

"I know you're there," I yelled as I spun around.

I heard something scuffing across the ground and then it was silent.

"If you don't come out, I'll just have to find you. And believe me; it won't be pretty when I do."

After a few seconds, I began to walk back the way I came. I assumed that the tribute was weaving in and out of rooms. So, I guess I would just have to use a very methodical way of thinking.

I walked to the nearest door, and kicked it so hard that I could feel it shake. I did this to every door until I heard a small noise. It was almost like a squeak.

I opened the door and stepped into the room. It seemed to be some kind of laboratory where you would create medicine.

"Don't be shy. I just want to talk," I said as happily as I could muster.

The only place where I thought someone could hide was in a large, metal cabinet against one of the opposite walls. I quietly walked up to the cabinet and wrapped my hands around the steel handles. Before I could even begin to pull it, the doors flew open. I let out a scream as I went plunging to the floor. The girl was now on top of me and was about to wrap her hands around my throat. I took in a deep breath before she closed off my air passage with a strong grip. I bucked and thrashed under her, but to no avail.

I took a closer look at her and realized it wasn't the girl from six, but the girl from nine. I recalled her name was Ace and I remembered how loud and obnoxious she was in training. So, we had another actress in the Hunger Games.

Fantastic.

I spotted a knife hanging loosely by her side. I clawed at her rib cage, faking an attempt at escaping. She simply held on tighter and I slipped the knife out of its sheath. I swiftly brought down into her thigh and I heard her let out a shriek.

Her grip completely disappeared and I shoved her off of me. I took in a gulp of air and shuffled away from her. I grabbed the doubled sided sword that was strapped to my back and stood up. I dropped into a fighting stance, pulling the weapon in front of me.

Ace scrambled up and yanked the knife out of her thigh. She let out another shriek and I saw tears begin to trickle down her face.

"I just wanted to talk," I purred.

"We both know that's a lie," she panted.

"Yeah, but at least I put some effort into being friendly," I smiled.

I leapt towards her but she dodged my lung easily. She slashed her knife through the air but I dropped into a squat.

"You obviously want to win," Ace huffed, "Most tributes aren't so willing to attack and kill."

"I could say the same about you," I smirked as I rammed the shaft of my sword into her knee. She let out a gasp but grabbed my hair as she fell. Caught off guard, I fell to the ground with her.

She sent a startling fast kick into my shoulder and I groaned in pain. I quickly grabbed her foot before she could pull it back and twisted it as hard as I could. I didn't hear a crack but she made a noise of discomfort.

Before I could twist her foot any farther, she pulled my hair again and managed to wrap her other leg around my head.

And now we were in a bit of a standby. If I twisted her foot and broke it, she would attempt to snap my neck. If she attempted to snap my neck, I'd break her foot. Without her foot, she wouldn't be able to get anywhere in the arena. Without my neck… well, I'd be dead.

"May I make a suggestion," Ace began after a few minutes of silence.

"Be my guest," I huffed.

"Let's be allies. At least until we make it to the surface."

I began to ponder her suggestion. I could tell she had enough supplies to last until we got the surface, plus she could carry all the extra supplies I got in the bloodbath for my alliance. However, I vaguely remembered her being allied with Lyric, who I knew was still alive as of yesterday. Therefore, I'm assuming by the amount of supplies, she left him with nothing. No way was that an even fifty-fifty split.

"Fine," I smiled coyly.

I dropped her foot and she let go of my neck. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my supplies. I put my sword behind my back as she gathered her supplies that were cleverly hidden in one of the tiny cabinets.

"Here are the rules," I began before she could say anything, "my supplies are mine and yours are yours. We don't share and we don't talk. We are only using each other in case we get into a fight and to solve any puzzles we might come across. Once we get to the surface, we're done and we part ways. Sound good?"

"Perfect," Ace smiled cheekily.

I began to walk towards the door and stopped.

"Oh, and Ace?"

She looked at me expectantly.

"I'm an extremely light sleeper. Just remember that if you _ever even think_ of trying something."

Her smile completely disappeared and her face appeared to lose a shade or two of its color. I let out a small giggle as I strutted out of the room.

It was so nice to be in control.

* * *

><p><strong>District Eight:<strong>

**Lyric's POV:**

This pulsing headache was killing me.

I silently lay on the ground and stared at the ceiling. I didn't think I would make it this far. In fact, I was the tribute most likely to die in the bloodbath. Even below the District Three boy, who is still alive too. But, I don't think I can make it any farther. My entire body aches, I have next to no supplies, and I can't think straight.

This entire thing was a disaster.

"Let's face it, you're going to die," I said to no one in particular.

I looked back to what I had done so far in the arena. I had attempted to kill Ace and Winnifred. I had been in constant pain. I thought harder and realized that was about it.

I deserved to die, in all honesty. Not only had I tried to _kill_ someone, but I wasn't even playing the Hunger Games. I mean, I knew other tributes were making game changing moves. They had to be, otherwise A) people wouldn't be dying and B) the Capitol would be bored.

And when the Capitol was bored, things didn't end very well.

I attempted to recall what life had been life before the games. I didn't do what most kids did. I spent a great deal of time at home, either doing homework or playing the piano. My father actually taught me how to play. My father loved music and spent his childhood learning how to make it. Of course, he grew up extremely poor which left him to his own devices. He got a job as a housekeeper and, when the family was out, would plunk keys out on the piano.

Of course, then he married my mother. Once he married into wealth, my mother simply paid for someone to come teach him. Then, when I was old enough, he taught me what he knew. I loved my father and mother. Part of me wondered if they were slightly proud of me.

I quickly threw that thought out of my head because I knew they weren't. My father would be appalled that I would resort to such tactics and my mother probably couldn't even watch. For the first time, my mother couldn't just hire someone to fix a problem for her. She just had to watch and hope it ended well.

My grandfather, on the other hand, was probably extremely proud of me. He was the one who managed to weasel and lie his way into money. He managed to slowly, but surely, gain factory by factory. Now he owned almost all of the factories in District Eight. He would be happy that I was willing to do anything to succeed. He would see me as a little him. Perhaps he would even feel some sort of feeling of sadness when I died. Maybe he would have thought I would have made a good successor to his business.

I suddenly heard the Capitol's anthem ring out and I propped myself up with my elbows. I spotted the projection and watched as the first face appeared.

Wow, the District One male. I wasn't extremely surprised when I saw Oceana go first, but this one surprised me. He got a ten as a training score. I definitely expected his district partner or Apollo to go before he did.

The next face to appear was the District Three male. No shock, just a simple nod. He was lucky to get this far, just like me. I small part of me was sad to see him go. He made me feel like I wasn't the only weak one in the arena.

When Scarlett appeared on the screen, I was in awe. The one and only thing I knew about him was that he was smart. I'm talking genius, always-keeps-you-on-your-toes smart.

The anthem faded and I simply lay back down.

I could already feel sleep taking me. I was just about to drift when I heard someone clear their throat. I thought I imagined it at first, but when I heard it again my eyes shot open.

"You look like you've been through hell," she laughed.

I stared, terrified, as I watched Lucy walk towards me.

"It looks like the end has come," I sighed.

"That's one way to look at it," she smirked as she pulled out a black knife. I closed my eyes, feeling a small twinge of relief. I knew she would end it quickly. She wasn't a Career or Lucian. A simple stab to the heart. Maybe even a slash to the throat.

I heard the knife slice through something and I opened my eyes. I watched as she held out an apple slice on the edge of her knife

"Wha-"

"Just eat before you die," Lucy interrupted.

She moved the knife closer to my mouth and I eyed her suspiciously. As I took the apple slice in between my teeth, I expected her to plunge the knife through the back of my throat.

Instead, she pulled the knife back and cut herself a slice. She sat down next to me and popped it into her mouth.

"Wh-"

"Shut up and keep eating and drinking. You're valuable and I'm going to keep you alive for a little bit longer."

With that, I watched as she cut another slice and ate that one too. Lucy looked completely emotionless and bored. It was as if someone else, not her, wanted me to live…

I sighed and let her lower a bottle of water to my lips. I took several gulps and smiled.

"Don't smile. It annoys me," she barked.

I quickly lost the smile and lay back down.

An hour or so passed and Lucy continued to feed me. She also treated my wounds saying what I did was 'atrocious at best'. I listened, to hear if any cannon fire went off, but nothing happened. I guess everyone made it to the sixth floor.

"Than-"

"Just go to sleep," she ordered.

She didn't have to tell me twice.

I lay back and closed my eyes. This was the last thing the Capitol wanted. They probably wanted me dead simply because I was boring them. I even bet the Gamemakers were trying to discreetly kill me off. As I let the fact that I wasn't dying anytime soon go to my head, I had one last thought before I fell to sleep.

It seemed that the Capitol wasn't in as much control as they thought…

* * *

><p><strong>So… it's kind of been three months…<strong>

** I'm SO SORRY! Seriously, things have just been beyond hectic. My computer broke for about two months of me being gone, which meant no writing. Then, when I did get a 'new' computer (it's a handy me down) it is a complete piece of crap. So I didn't write on it because it would randomly shut off and I'd lose all the work I didn't constantly save. Then I finally convinced my mom to let me use her laptop (no easy feat) so I'm now using this until we find enough money to get a new computer. Now, let's add on school, friend drama, and family catastrophe, and that leaves no time for Europa to write D: **

** So, I wish I could promise to not disappear again, but I can't. I will tell you I'm NEVER giving up on this story, and that I will update with a new chapter within this month! Probably after thanksgiving because for thanksgiving I'm going on a trip. **

** Anyways, I hope you will all continue to read, review, and support me. Because, without you guys, this story wouldn't exist! So please drop a review, telling me about the story and how you've been! **

** And for those of you whose stories I read, I'm sorry I disappeared from those as well. My iPod broke and no computer so no reading. I'll probably never catch up with what I missed so I'm just going to try to read starting NOW with new updates! **

** Anyways, I've missed you. I know a good chunk of you probably don't remember a lot of what's going on (I know I forgot and had to reread chapters) so I put Lavender's POV in to remind you who is still alive and how they're doing. If you have any other questions, just ask in the review and if they're something I haven't mentioned ever or if I forgot something that is pretty crucial to the story, I'll add it back in next chapter or edit this chapter. **

**one more thing, I'm doing another SYOT starting sometime near the end of november/early december. I know you're thinking "you can barely keep up with this one". Well, A) circumstances are different now, and B) its a collab with another popular Fanfiction author :D so ill only be doing half the writing, which will make it quite easier to handle :D So, i hope all of you look forwards to that and submit!**


	37. Day Six: Part One: Run

**Day Six: Run**

**Part One:**

**District Two:**

**Apollo's POV:**

When I first began to start waking up, I felt exhausted. My eyelids were heavy and I couldn't force myself to open them. It wasn't until I didn't feel the familiar warmth of Asita's body that I slowly pried my eyes open. I looked around groggily and quickly realized something was wrong. I couldn't remember going to bed last night, nor did I remember the people's faces that were lit up in the sky. I attempted to sit up, but it was suddenly difficult for my muscles to move the way I wanted them to.

"Cami?" I asked.

She was next to me and was stirring slightly. I noticed Lucian was out cold, as was Leith. The next thing I noticed was that Asita, Jordana, and Valhalla were nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Cami slurred slightly as she looked at me from the ground.

"Quite the interesting question," someone chimed from the doorway.

My head snapped towards the source of the voice and I almost snarled.

Standing in the doorframe was Valhalla with a syringe in each hand. Asita and Jordana were both bound by their hands and feet.

And a syringe was in each of their necks.

"I have been waiting hours for Jordana, Asita, and you to wake up," Valhalla smirked at me.

"Wha-" I began.

"I'm guessing you're looking for some sort of explanation," Valhalla chirped as Jordana began to shift slightly.

"Yes," I growled as I attempted to stand up.

"Nuh uh," Valhalla laughed, "If any of you take even a single step towards me, both Jordana and Asita are going to die. These syringes are filled with a lovely sponsor gift. Well, lovely for me. Deadly for everyone else."

I froze and lowered myself back to my knees. I could hear someone stirring and then someone else let out a loud moan.

"Now that everyone is conscious, or close to being, it would be my pleasure to explain everything to you. Yesterday I was given some sponsor gifts. One of them was a nice vial of full of a sleeping medicine. I simply slipped it into the stew I so kindly made for everyone. It was almost satisfactory watching each one of you drop like flies. In fact, I was so tempted to just kill every one of you then. Eliminate all my competition. However, watching you suffer, Apollo, is far more pleasurable than an easy victory."

Questions began to fly through my mind.

But only word came out.

"Why?"

Valhalla's nonchalant, almost giddy appearance swiftly changed to something darker. "Why? There are just so many reasons 'why', Apollo. I want out of this alliance. I want to make people suffer. I want to relish said people's pain. All of you deserve every misery that could ever be heaped upon you. It's _your_ fault Thomas is _dead_! So many reasons, but I think these will suffice to satisfy your barbaric mind."

I felt the guilt over Thomas quickly wash over me before I replaced it with anger.

"It was an _accident_."

"Does that fix anything?" Valhalla said in a chilling, monotone voice.

"Fine," I said desperately as I looked into Asita's terrified eyes, "Then kill me! If it's my fault, take it out on me."

"If only I possessed that amount of mercy," Valhalla replied, "Instead, I'm going to let you feel exactly what I feel. Here is how this is going to work. I am going to give you sixty seconds to tell me who you love more, Asita or Jordana. Frankly, everyone here is sick and tired of this love triangle. Then, depending on your answer, either Asita or Jordana is going to die. You'll get to keep one and the other will be ripped out of your life without you having any power to stop it."

"You can't do this," I almost snarled.

"I really would not tell me what I can and cannot do right now," Valhalla whispered as she pressed her thumbs, ever so slightly, harder against the syringe.

"This is crazy!" Jordana exclaimed angrily.

"I never said I was sane," Valhalla sighed, "Your sixty seconds start now."

My mind began racing. I only got to choose one. I got to keep the one I loved most, and then watch as the other one died, most likely feeling betrayed. I could feel my breath beginning to hitch. I could sense Cami's eyes boring into my back. She would want me to pick Jordana. She would say this is the Hunger Games and we needed to keep the most useful. Sadly, everyone knew my answer. No matter how close I was to Jordana, I only loved one of them. Right when I was about to let the answer leave my lips, Jordana piped up.

"Valhalla, you're a logical woman. Don't we get to plead our cases?"

Valhalla looked at Jordana, and burst out in a gale of high pitched cackles. For the first time since I had met her, I realized Valhalla might be just as crazy as Lucian.

"Go ahead. This should be entertaining. The time limit is paused for right now. After they are done pleading there cases, you have thirty seconds. And if you don't choose, they both die," Vahalla chucked darkly.

Asita began to open her mouth but Jordana beat her to it. "You all know my brother, Cass, is a victor and my mentor. He is the most disgusting, sadistic, arrogant person I've ever met, but he is brutally honest. He told me something before we entered the arena. Something he told me might save my life later on."

Jordana took a deep breath and Valhalla rolled her eyes. "Hurry up. I do not have all day."

"My brother is good friends with a good portion of the Career victors… including Clinton, Asita's district partner's mentor. Clinton told Cas-"

"Don't," Asita spat. "Don't you _dare._"

"I'm sorry, Asita, but I never promised to fight fair," Jordana paused, "Clinton told Cass that Asita was sleeping with him. She was sleeping with him so that he would direct all of Lyric's sponsor money to her."

The room went completely silent. I felt my stomach churn and my heart began to flutter. It was silent for another few seconds before Lucian burst out into laughter.

"This was far better than I anticipated," Valhalla stated.

"Is that true," I said accusingly to Asita.

"Apo-"

"_Is_ _it_ _true_!"

Asita breathed in shakily and I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Yes, it is, but Ap-"

"Stop."

"Apollo!"

"I said _stop_!"

I took a deep breath and glared at her, "We've always been honest with each other, or so I thought. Everything you've ever told me, I've never used it against you. I've never judged you. But _this_! This is low. This is-"

"Apollo," Asita sobbed, "I'm sorry! I told you I was going to do whatever I had to do! I told you I had to get out of here, for my siblings! Plus, this agreement was made before I even saw the Reapings on television! I had no id-"

"Oh please," I laughed darkly, "You probably planned to seduce some sucker to help you from the beginning. For some stupid reason, I just never thought I was a sucker, nor did I think you could plan something so… underhanded!"

"Apollo. I love you!"

My heart skipped a beat. She had never been able to say that. I knew why. It was because whenever she did, the person seemed to either leave her or they died. And now she was finally saying it, now of all times.

"Thirty seconds, Apollo," Valhalla smiled.

I needed three days to sort this out, not thirty seconds. I couldn't tell if I was being played. I didn't know if, maybe, it had started out as a ploy but now she really did love me. I did know that I still loved her, but what I didn't know was if the person I loved actually existed. My brain swirled in pointless circles as the timer counted down. I looked into both of their eyes one last time. Asita's eyes were desperate, hurt. Jordana's were steady, whole.

"Jordana. I choose Jordana," I answered.

In the end, Jordana was always there. Even if I didn't truly love her, she was always steady. She was always herself and there for me. She was real. Something I needed in the Hunger Games.

Asita let out a shriek and I looked away.

When I looked back, Asita's eyes were clenched shut.

Waiting.

It was Jordana who was now slumped against the wall with shock in her eyes. Valhalla pulled out both of her syringes.

Asita's syringe was full with green ooze, while Jordana's was empty.

"I never said that the one you chose got to live," Valhalla smirked. Then, before I could even process what was going on, she ran out the doorway, laughing as she went.

* * *

><p><strong>District Eight:<strong>

**Asita's POV:**

Nothing.

I could feel absolutely nothing.

The world seemed to be in slow motion from the second I saw 'J' begin to form on Apollo's lips. The world seemed to slowly slip away as I felt the needle wriggle, ever so slightly, in my neck. I shut my eyes, awaiting the inevitable pain.

I was the first to wake up from Valhalla's sleeping brew. So, she decided to divulge a small piece of information. She told me that the poison wasn't fast acting. It did immediately send your body into shock, but you didn't die quickly. You felt the fire spread through your veins. You felt as each body part began to burn, burn hotter than I could ever imagine. Then after a day or so, you died.

I realized now that she told me because she thought _I_ would be the one she was killing.

She didn't even consider that I wouldn't be the one chosen.

I felt the needle leave my neck, but I didn't feel an ounce of pain. Laughter bounced off the walls around me and I opened my eyes. To my left, Jordana was slumped against a wall, slowly slipping to the floor.

Suddenly, the slow motion feeling ended and I felt like I was being hit by a train of emotions and events.

Apollo dashed forward and I felt a longing feeling of hope blossom in me.

He ran past me without a single glance.

"Untie them!" he yelled to no one in particular, "Leith, help me chase her down!"

Leith sprinted past me moments later, but I didn't even look after him. I couldn't stop myself from staring at Jordana's face.

Grief was the first emotion that hit me. Again, I told someone I loved them and they left me to die, _literally_. I understood why he was suddenly so flustered. I even accepted the fact that anyone, including myself, would second guess any previous decisions with that new tid bit of information. But, I still thought in the end he would choose me. The conversations we had, the moments we shared, the kisses we stole… They were real. They were one of the most real things I had ever felt. Kisses used to mean nothing. Fleeting romantic moments, such as a simple caress of the face, were simply part of the job. I was just whatever the buyer wanted me to be for an hour. And that was it.

But, now, it was different. There was nothing ever fake between Apollo and me. It may have started out as a scheme, but I was always attracted to him. I always felt pulled to him. I never, ever, would have chosen someone else above him.

With that last thought, my emotions quickly turned to fury. So what if I didn't tell him about my deal with Clinton! He knew what I did back in District Eight! Why does that change what I did before the Hunger Games? It's the same _damn_ thing. Sex for money. How could he let one piece of information that I didn't tell him, because I felt there was no reason for him to know, change everything we had gone through the past two weeks! All the time we had spent bonding! Just one thing that I did suddenly gave him permission to let me die!

I was ripped away from my thoughts by the feel of the rope binding my hands being cut.

I looked at Cami and Lucian, and noticed they had all of their supplies.

"What are you doing?" I croaked.

"Leaving," Cami smirked, "The Careers are over, dear. Now, I'm getting out of here before I become a target… and I suggest you do the same. Dead-Eye Apollo will be back soon and I have a feeling he won't be very happy with you."

She cut the bonds on my feet and I retorted, "He wouldn't kill me!"

"Are you really that dense?" Cami asked, almost sympathetically. "He just did."

Her words hit me hard and fast and I felt like someone punched me in the gut.

She walked right over Jordana, ignoring her like she was a dead rat, and began to exit the room.

"You wanted this to happen," I accused.

Cami and Lucian both turned toward me with wolfish, almost sickening smiles.

"Damn right we did," Lucian cackled.

Lucian pushed past Cami and she looked at me one last time before she muttered, "I only want what you want. To win."

As she left, I realized the difference between her and me. She wanted to win, but all I wanted was to survive. I would trade all the riches and fame just to simply go home. Even if I did have to go back to my 'job', I would at least be safe and back where I belong.

I stood up shakily and placed my hands on my sides. Cami was right about one thing, Apollo did sentence me to my death. I needed to leave.

I raced across the room and grabbed two backpacks. I dumped out the contents and quickly filled one with food and the other with what left we had of the water. I grabbed a few extra knives and packed all of my medical supplies on top of the water. I threw both backpacks over my shoulder and walked towards the exit.

However, I made the deadly mistake of looking at Jordana again.

I knew she was doomed to die, but this was the Hunger Games. Something could happen. Perhaps she will have gained a flood of sponsors because of her trickery and possible new romance. Maybe they'll be able to send some cure, or something to stop her from dying.

And then what will happen? She and Apollo will steadily grow closer. They'll rely on each other, and she'll become his new confidant. Perhaps they'll get to the point where… where…

I couldn't even finish the thought without a painful stab hit my heart. But this new, imaginary image was branded into my mind. It was simply of them sitting by a campfire with one of his arms around her. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he would then tenderly kiss the top of her head.

For some reason, this image hurt even more than anything that had actually happened.

Anger filled my very being as I spat, "Congratulations, you won. I bet you've been laughing your ass off, knowing what you knew. You were just waiting for the perfect time to royally screw me over."

The response that filled my mind and fed my fury was simply, 'I never promised to fight fair'.

Then, without even a second thought, I yanked my jeweled knife out and rammed it through her gut.

She let out a wheezy moan as I mocked, "I never promised I'd fight fair!"

_ I'd rather die than let her have him._

The second that thought passed through my mind, I stared down at my bloody hands gripped around the handle of my knife. What… Did I just… Do that?

Then, ironically enough, I heard him yell, "_What the hell are you doing_!"

Without looking up, I yanked the knife out and took several steps back.

I took a deep breath and looked Apollo right in the eye. He had an almost murderous expression on his face as he snarled at me.

"I'm finishing what Valhalla started," I growled.

"I can't believe you! First you use me and then yo-"

"I never once used you! I told you how I felt since the beginning! You just wanted to believe I was a manipulative, lying bitch!" I shrieked.

He took a step closer and growled, "Stop lying and own up to who you are! You're simply a money grubbing bimbo."

I took a deep breath and took a step towards him, "And you're a wishy-washy, 'to cool to try', loser who can only form his opinions based on what others think!"

Then, he said the one thing he knew would hurt me most.

"Listen, whore."

Whore. The word that I had been branded with. The word that had left the lips of many when I walked by. The word that silently killed me a little bit every time I heard it, but I never showed it. The word he knew would send me reeling. The word I had never heard from someone I had actually cared about.

But, instead of listening, I simply shrieked and tackled him. Apparently, my actions completely and utterly surprised him. He didn't even begin to draw his sword as I sent him hurtling towards the ground. Before he could react, I punched him in the face as hard as I could.

I heard a crack and saw that his nose began to bleed.

Then I did the thing that I knew would hurt _him_ the most.

I slashed his eye patch away and snatched it in my hand.

"You're a blind fool, in more ways than one. Now all of Panem can see it." I hissed as I clutched his token.

He stared at me stunned and I felt a twinge of guilt.

Then the word '_whore'_ rang through my skull and I punched him again. I stood up and picked up one of my backpacks that had fallen during the assault. I stepped over his moaning form, just like Cami, and exited the room. I looked both ways and realized Leith was nowhere to be seen.

I guess Cami wasn't the only one who realized that the Careers were breaking down.

As I ran away from my old allies, I couldn't help but feel the grief beginning to slip in. I felt a sob catch in my throat, but I made sure to hold it there. I wouldn't waste a single tear on Apollo.

Maybe because, in a sick and twisted way, I was ever so slightly thankful. When I was forced in here, I saw it as an opportunity to show District Eight that I was more than a slut. But, I only proved that they were right. I hid behind Apollo, letting him protect me from every danger that came our way. Sure, I risked my life for Thomas, but that was while Apollo was fighting a _dragon_!

Whether I won or died, I was going to show them that they were wrong. I was done hiding behind a man, expecting that they would protect me because of my looks or 'charm'. It was time to stop running and face these games as a competitor. A competitor worth respecting.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Winnifred's POV:**

"I… I don't necessarily understand this," I mumbled, more to myself than anyone.

"Well, we had better try and figure it out," Admyer replied as he walked towards it.

In front of us was a giant tube. It reminded me of the small chamber that raised me up into the bloodbath, except that you could fit my entire house inside of it. It obviously let up, but the entrance was sealed off.

The entire sixth floor was a medical station. Everywhere we went I seemed to find some sort of chemical compound or healing remedy in the works. This was every tributes haven after six days of battling and wounds. It was even built to be completely sterilized. I hadn't run across a single speck of dust.

"This can't be too hard. Every tribute is supposed to figure it out and get to the next floor, hypothetically," Admyer thought aloud.

"Not if the Gamemakers started putting in multiple entrances. Remember that the higher we get, the larger the floors are," I argued.

"True and this is an extremely obvious entrance, which is why they would make it difficult to access."

For the next few minutes we began to debate different methods of entry. Admyer suggested we try to find some sort of explosive and blow it open. I told him that was foolish since we would need power to raise the elevator. I then suggested another idea and he shot it down with a sound argument. It went on for quite a while.

"Okay, let's recap," Admyer huffed right as I was opening my mouth to spout another idea, "We know we need power to operate it. Therefore, there should be some sort of power generator. Maybe even a control console. Why don't we look for that for a bit?"

"Sounds fine to me. You check the left half of the area and I'll check the right," I replied as I walked to my destination.

I began to sift through things on the nearest metal table, looking for a hidden switch or button. These past few days hadn't been bad. Admyer and I got along just fine. We worked well together and we never got into any sort of argument. We did, however, get into disagreements over what we should do. I liked to take a very problem-solving, methodical approach to our plans while Admyer relied more on his gut and instinct. I will admit that his instinct had saved us at least once. He almost begged me not to go down the hallway that was the fastest approach to the destination we were seeking. I agreed just to stop the confrontation. Later, I just _knew_ I heard the sounds of a muttation and tribute emitting from where the corridor was.

The other thing I enjoyed about our alliance was the lack of attachments. I never once had to worry about hurting his feelings or vice versa. We simply said what was on our minds, knowing the other wouldn't take offense to it. I also knew that he would never stab me in the back. If and when we parted ways, it would be very clean and formal, just like the start of our alliance.

"Winnifred, I think I found something," Admyer called.

I jogged over to where he was and peered at the console he was observing. It was previously hidden under several white sheets and pieces of equipment, making it appear to be just another metal lab table.

"I… just take a look at this," he sighed with frustration.

I peered down at the console and automatically knew it was a simple math puzzle. It was telling me that I needed to transfer a certain amount of power and fuel to one generator, while still having enough to keep the generator that was currently on running. With a few simple strokes of the keyboard I told the computer to send half of the resources to the second generator while transferring a third of the second generators resources to the first one. I continued to send the power and fuel between the two generators until they were the exact amount the computer had told me.

When I was done, the screen turned green and blinked… Waiting.

"What now?" Admyer murmured, "You did what it asked."

"I know," I whispered, completely perplexed.

After a minute of trying to switch the screen to anything else but its new state, I realized it was waiting for a command.

"Open entrance to the elevator," I commanded.

The screen turned red and 'NOT RECOGNIZED' flashed across my view.

"List preset commands."

'NOT RECOGNIZED'.

"Allow access to elevator functions."

'NOT RECOGNIZED'.

"Open sesame?" Admyer interrupted.

"Shush," I hissed as 'NOT RECOGNIZED' flashed again.

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood," he sighed as he flopped onto the ground, "I just don't understand why they would want to trap us in here."

Suddenly, Admyer's offhand comment gave me an idea. This door wasn't meant to keep us in. It was meant to keep everything else out.

Everything that might contaminate any and all experiments on this floor.

"Stabilize air conditions within the chamber and elevator."

The screen flashed a brilliant green and I could feel the air begin to shift in the room.

"Winnifred, what are you doing?"

"I said, shush," I repeated.

"Prepare to open outer seal in twenty seconds, close outer seal in thirty seconds, open inner seal in forty seconds, close inner seal in fifty seconds, and raise elevator to floor seven."

The screen flashed green brilliantly and I automatically secured all of our supplies.

"Go to the door, now."

Admyer obeyed without question and jogged to the entrance. I began to walk towards it as well, but quickly turned back to the console.

"Self-destruct main console in two minutes."

With my last order, I ran to the door as it began to open.

"What did you figure out?" Admyer asked as we entered the inner chamber.

"It's simple, this entire floor is sterile. Scientists would not want anything ruining their experiments. That means that they would build two sealed door so that people could pass from entrance to entrance without dragging anything toxic into the environment," I explained.

The outer seal closed and, in ten seconds exactly, the inner seal opened.

"And how did you know that?"

"I read quite a bit back home," I admitted sheepishly, "I don't exactly have a great social life…"

The inner seal shut and the elevator began to move slowly. As we steadily rose, I looked down into the empty, metal room. I felt as if I was entering the Hunger Games again… Just a little more prepared this time. After a minute, the explosion went off.

"Why, exactly, did you do that?" Admyer questioned.

"Simple. I didn't want anyone else to be able to use this entrance," I shrugged.

Admyer emitted a loud guffaw and just stared at me.

"Brilliant," he smiled.

I felt myself blush and stare at the ground.

"Shush."

* * *

><p><strong>District Six:<strong>

**Lucy's POV:**

"Don't' hurt yourself," I commented in a painfully sarcastic way.

Lyric simply grunted as he forced himself to stand up.

"We need to get going and find our way up to the next floor," he grunted.

"Lead the way," I grandiosely gestured as I rolled my eyes.

Lyric walked past me and down the hallway. I strolled behind him, looking for something more interesting than this situation. Perhaps a stray piece of framework or a dead mouse.

Frankly, I could care less about Lyric. He is simply a worthless tribute that has done nothing the past six days. However, he is a worthless tribute that Head Gamemaker Lavender told me to protect with my life. For some reason, she saw some small speck of potential in him that the rest of Panem wasn't able to locate.

If I was being honest with myself, I was just bored. I wasn't allowed to kill anyone unless ordered to. What else did that leave me to do in the Hunger Games? Perhaps I could befriend a few stray muttations or knit a sweater for when I get cold. Heck, if she sent me some thread and wool I would force myself to learn how to knit. I would do anything if it didn't involve wandering these almost identical metal hallways waiting for the next order, even though I knew where every entrance and tribute was located.

"Would you mind taking this backpack," he asked without really asking as he shoved it towards me.

I simply let it fall to the ground and grunted, "What, did you become disabled in the past few minutes?"

"I just need a little help," Lyric explained.

"No, you need to put your big boy undies on and take care of your own business. I'm not going to be around forever, so pick up your flipping backpack and deal with the pain." I said each word clearly and enunciated every syllable, talking as I would to a small child.

Heck, I think I wouldn't even talk to a small child like this.

"Fine," he groaned as he bent over and painstakingly picked it up.

_Be nice._

Lavender's voice chimed into my brain and I rolled my eyes.

_You want him to live? Then he needs to be his own caretaker._ I replied mentally.

_No, he needs to heal up, and you being a snarky snake doesn't help him._

_ Oh really? I thought it built character._

I could hear the sound of her clearing her throat and knew I had pissed her off.

Oh well.

If she wanted me to keep Lyric from any more physical harm, fine. However, I would not babysit the brat and spoon feed him every little thing he needed. I would not lower myself in such a way. I'd rather Lavender pull the plug and have me killed.

_Rebellion doesn't suit you, Lucy._

_ It is not rebellion, it is self-respect._

_ Which, you shouldn't have seeing as you're a muttation._

_ Really? Then what's your excuse?_

That should shut her up for about two minutes.

I glanced at Lyric and sighed. Which was worse company; Lavender, a psychotic control freak who constantly undermined me, or Lyric, a self-wallowing cretin who couldn't even tie his own shoes without complaining or hurting himself?

Frankly, I chose neither. Sometimes, I just wished I could run away from it all…

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, i told you i would update again :D<strong>

**So the hoilday is drawing near and my midterms/finals are next week! Stress city! Plus, the day of my last final, I'm leaving for Seattle for two weeks. So i know this update is shorter than usual but A) i think yall would want an update before new years and B) it has enough drama for two chapters xD **

**So please tell me what you think and review :D**


	38. Day Six: Part Two: Mama

**Day Six: Mama**

**Part Two:**

**Head Gamemaker:**

**Lavender's POV:**

"That was absolutely _splendid_," President Raven chimed over the telephone.

"I know, ratings have never been higher! Literally everyone was watching it! Not to mention the amount of people who are replaying it or observing the buildup to the event," I sang as my fingers flew across the keyboard.

Valhalla created Hunger Games history. The Capitol had seen an array of things, but exacting revenge by creating a lose-lose situation where the victim has to pick his, hypothetically speaking, poison. And then giving him the poison he _didn't_ want.

It was pure brilliance.

However, it has seemed to backfire on her. Many of the females of the Capitol were in infatuated with the love triangle. That being said, everyone who loved Jordana hates Valhalla. Everyone who loves Asita is rooting for her even more vigorously.

Everyone who wanted Apollo with either Asita _or_ Jordana, which is most of the Capitol, wants Valhalla's head on a pike. She ruined Apollo's chances for love, which ruins the Capitol's little soap opera. Ironically, by creating Hunger Games history, Valhalla has made herself the most unpopular tribute. All of her sponsors are gone and now she must survive these games on her own.

"I wish that the excitement could continue," Raven sighed, "but nothing would compare to what happened."

"A few things could still happen, but that will be the highlight of the day," I agreed.

"Well, to get back to my point, I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. I knew that you would be an amazing Head Gamemaker."

I rolled my eyes as I replied, "Thank you, President Raven."

Without any response, I heard the click of a phone and she was gone. I set my phone down and sighed. I was in my private office going through paperwork. I usually did not leave my post once the games began. In fact, I limited myself to two hours of sleep per day. It was possible with some chemical and medicinal help.

However, the President had called me and I also had to deal with some press. That being said, I could not handle both from the confines of the extremely public Control Room.

Instead of returning to my post, however, I took a minute to relax. Although I loved my job, during the actual games I never had time to think. By think, I mean think thoughts that didn't involve death and destruction. Despite what people said about me, I wasn't crazy. Did I enjoy the Hunger Games? Yes, I loved them. Did I have a taste for the darker side? Yes, that much was obvious from my position. Did I hate the Districts? Yes, they were barbaric societies that were just as bad as us!

Still, it wasn't like I enjoyed murder. I did it because it was necessary. I murdered the previous Head Gamemaker so that I could take over his position. It was necessary for my career progression. I murdered tributes because it was my job and the Capitol thrived upon it. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning and scheming, but the actual death I could live without.

The only reason these thoughts were floating through my mind was simply because of one idiotic reporter's question.

_Is it true you collect the blood from each fallen tribute?_

Did he really think that I was such a demented creature that I would collect such a thing?! Was I really such a monster that people believed I had a sick obsession with the blood of my 'victims'?

I slowly grabbed the key I kept between my breasts and pulled it out. I silently got up and walked over to my liquor cabinet. I opened it and took out several bottles of expensive alcohol. I slid the false back down and put my key into the keyhole. The hidden safe swung open and I reached inside.

I kept my things inside my safe. Many of them were important documents, some were hidden messages. My searching hand clasped around the object it desired. I dropped into a cross legged position and looked upon it.

It was the only picture I dared keep of my family.

I gazed at a young Lavender as she naively smiled, surrounded by her family. Her father had his hand placed upon her shoulder while her mother held a small baby named Glese. Her older sister had a coy smile on her face as she stared right into the camera's lense.

Sometimes it felt like she was mocking me.

Of course, back then my name was Imogen. Little Imogen. Little Imogen loved to play with dolls. Little Imogen loved flowers and plants. Little Imogen never thought she would be an orphan by age thirteen.

I felt my eyes begin to sting as I looked down at the picture. Little Imogen was never considered a monster. Far from it, she was actually considered kind.

My father was a politician. He hoped to one day be President since the President at the time was getting old and frail. My mother was a simple flower shop owner who shared her knowledge with both of her daughters. She probably would have taught it to my younger brother Glese if she had not died four years after this picture was taken.

As soon as that thought passed through my mind the memories came flooding back. Rebel protestors were running rampant through the streets. My mother locked the shop and she and I were huddled behind the counter. I heard the breaking of glass as someone screamed _Die bitch!_

My father, along with other politicians, made several statements supporting the Hunger Games, practically damning everyone who protested against it.

The smell of fire and smoke was everywhere. My mother ushered me out, and she screamed as a falling piece of metal clanged around us. I didn't stop running until I made it safely out of the burning building.

When I looked behind me, however, there my mama was, lying in a pool of blood. I saw a rebel running from the scene with a gun in his hand.

"Lavender?"

"What!" I barked as I shoved the picture back into the safe. I slammed it shut and put the bottles of liquor back where they belonged. I dropped the key back into my cleavage and felt complete and utter surprise when I felt a tear hit the back of my hand.

"Are yo-"

"What the hell do you want," I growled as I furiously wiped the tears from my eyes.

"It's about a tribute… Jacqie found Lucian."

* * *

><p><strong>District Seven:<strong>

**Jacqie's POV:**

"I still can't believe that worked!" Camilla laughed as she dug her teeth into an apple.

"It was a brilliant plan," Lucian smirked as he sharpened his axe.

"Of course it was! Now we're in the clear!" Camilla reasoned, "Leith and Apollo will be chasing Valhalla, Valhalla will still be wreaking havoc on other tributes, and who the _hell_ cares what Asita does! We are now officially under the radar! No one is going to purposefully come after us until much later!"

I had to stifle a laugh as I watched them. My grip tightened on my axe as I tried to formulate on a plan. I stumbled upon these two dining on a sponsor gift several minutes ago. For their efforts, on whatever they did, they were sent what appeared to be six or seven apples.

They were in a large room that appeared to be meant for packaging goods. I saw conveyor belts everywhere, along with boxes full of glass vials.

I continued to slide against the wall, closer and closer to Lucian.

I had to get my revenge. I had to avenge my father and myself!

I knew that he was stronger than me. I knew Camilla was faster than me. I knew the odds weighed heavily against me, but there was one thing I knew I had that they did not.

I had the ability to be quiet, hide, and move around stealthily. Plus, as of now, I had the element of surprise.

"Damn right! That means we can just fool around with the weaker tributes and have a good time," he grinned ear to ear.

"Sure… Or we could, I don't know, relax a bit and not worry about other tributes," Camilla sighed.

I now slowly began to slide closer to Lucian. He was the closest and the least perceptive.

"Now, where is the fun in that?" Lucian smirked as he leaned closer to Camilla.

"I just think we deserve a break, that's all," Camilla pointed out.

Just a little closer. My axe hovered slightly over the ground. Just five more feet…

"There are no breaks. Isn't that right, Jacqie?"

Every muscle in my body locked up as he heard him say my name. His head slowly turned, like the second hand on a clock, and he stared at me with his dark eyes.

I launched myself backwards and slammed into the wall. I scurried to my feet and held my axe in front of me, shaking.

Lucian stood up with a wolfish smile on his face. Camilla looked completely surprised.

It seems that I misjudged who was perceptive and who wasn't…

"I am so glad you joined us," Lucian smiled, "I was so not looking forward to hunting you down again."

"You're a monster," I growled.

Camilla stood up, but Lucian held his hand up.

"This is my fight, not yours."

Camilla, obviously not wanting to argue with a psychopath, nodded and started to gather their supplies.

"This time, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting you live long enough to escape," Lucian grinned.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," I mumbled as I continued to shake. I had to get a grip!

"Why is that, Jacqie?" he laughed loudly.

"Because your parents must hate ever giving birth to you."

The laugh died in his throat and every trace of humor left his face.

"You don't know them, so shut up!" he snarled.

"Oh but I do!" I chimed, realizing I struck a nerve, "Mr. and Mrs. Valcoor. The Valcoors are a long standing and fairly wealthy family. Obviously, they spoiled you rotten. Still, I know you're smart enough that you never showed them this side of you back home. You never wanted to worry about them despising you. However, Lucian, there is one detail you've forced from the thought process of your little brain. This is national television! They, along with all of their friends, know what a monster you are! And now even your own parents don't love you."

Lucian let out a furious roar and charged me. The shaky feeling came back, but I forced myself to sprint to the right. I ran into the rows of conveyor belts and bobbed in and out. I could hear his loud footsteps behind me, but eventually they got farther and farther away.

"Come out, you rat!" Lucian howled as he brought his axe down into a machine.

I steeled myself as I saw the lever at the end of the room. I began to crawl towards it, squeezing in between boxes. I could hear Lucian bringing his axe down upon boxes and more metallic objects.

Lucian was right about one thing. I was acting like a rat. I ran, cowered, and scavenged. I was afraid to die, which meant I never took any risks.

But now I was taking the ultimate risk. I was going to take down this psycho, even if it took my life. I lunged at the lever and pulled it down. I heard the loud sound of machines powering up and conveyor belts began to move. Some moved at a rapid pace while others slowly tugged along.

Lucian was standing thirty feet away with the darkest scowl I have ever seen. His axe was shaking in his hand as he glared at me. I felt as if I was looking into the eyes of the devil himself.

"I've been waiting for this for _way_ to long," I screeched.

* * *

><p><strong>Lucian's POV:<strong>

Jacqie jumped on top of a conveyor belt and began to move to my left. I leaped onto the one in front of me and began to travel to my left.

"You beat me, cut me, starved me, tortured me, and scarred me," Jacqie screamed, shaking, "You are a monster!"

She leapt to another conveyor belt and traveled towards me at an alarming pace.

I let out a snarl and lunged at her. She side stepped my attack and swung her axe at me. I ducked and then we were separated again by the two separate conveyor belts.

I jumped onto the same belt and ran towards her. My only mission was to kill her! No one talks about my parents like that and gets away alive! No one!

She swiped at me with her axe but I simply blocked it with my own. I kicked her in the thigh but she barely flinched. She sent a right hook my way and hit me square in the temple.

I fell to the ground and my head slammed against the conveyor belt.

I heard her squeal as she fell and I soon followed her. The conveyor belt had ended and now we were both sprawled on the ground.

Before she could gather herself, I grabbed her ankle and twisted as hard as I could.

I heard the snap of something and she let out a scream. Without skipping a beat, she sent the same foot that I had let go into my face.

The taste of blood immediately hit my mouth as I saw a tooth fall out.

She scrambled out of my reach and stood up on one leg. She swung at me with her axe but I easily dodged it. I launched myself at her and dug my shoulder into her. She fell to the ground and I balanced myself against a metal beam.

She swiftly grabbed my wrist that was dangling and did the same thing to me that I had done to her.

Grab and twist.

I felt the bones break in my left wrist and I let out a groan of pain mixed with pleasure.

Her eyes widened at my sound but she simply kicked me in the knee so I would come tumbling down beside her.

She grabbed me by the throat and she straddled me. She slammed my head against the ground and screamed, "I hate you! Your parents hate you! Everyone hates you!"

Every time she said hate my head would bounce on the ground.

"Leave my parents out of this!" I choked out.

"Why?" she screamed as she grappled for her axe, "You killed one of mine!"

Right when her hand found the handle I started to struggle. My hands were trapped under her body, and the lack of oxygen began to affect my thinking.

I heard a scream and saw Cami had Jacqie by the hair. She threw Jacqie to the ground as she snarled, "You are not going to kill him!"

Cami then kicked Jacqie as hard as she could in the pelvis and walked away.

"I said this was my fight!" I yelled after her.

"It is! I was just making sure you were alive to finish it," Cami called back as she returned to her spot at the other side of the room.

I stood up shakily and walked over to Jacqie. I felt completely shaken by the fact that Jacqie had almost killed me. If Cami hadn't intervened…

As soon as I was next to her, Jacqie's eyes popped open and she grabbed my broken wrist. I let out a howl of plain and simple pain. I then grabbed her wrist with my other hand and yanked her upwards.

She let out a small shriek but I let go of her wrist and wrapped one hand around her neck. I lifted her up in the air by her throat. She grabbed at my hand and used her one good foot to kick me as hard as she could in the thigh.

"It doesn't feel so nice to be choked, does it?" I growled.

She then dropped both her hands and one of them enclosed around something in her belt. She pulled out a knife and rammed it into my shoulder.

I dropped her immediately, and yelled an obscenity.

As I pulled the knife out I was shocked to realize it was _my_ knife. She somehow managed to get it out of my belt and into her own during our fight.

By the time I had collected myself she was leaning against one of the metal pillars, axe in hand.

"Will you just _die_ already?!" I screeched as I charged her.

She swung her axe at me and I blocked it with my own. My head was throbbing with pain and I had a hard time focusing.

Without even thinking, I grabbed the handle of her axe and ripped it out of her hand. I then grabbed the front of her face and rammed it into the wall behind her. I heard a crack and she fell to the ground. I expected to hear a cannon shot, but there was not a single sound.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my leg and looked down. Jacqie had her teeth sunk into my calf and had a fierce look in her eyes.

I simply brought my axe down and sunk it right into her side. She let out a scream and I grabbed her by the head.

"Just. Die!" I screamed as I repeatedly bashed her skull into the wall.

It was only Cami grabbing my hand and prying it away from her skull that made me realize she was truly dead.

"Are you sure she's dead?!" I howled as I collapsed to the ground.

"I'm sure, I heard the cannon," Cami soothed as she pulled some first aid supplies out of her backpack.

"It could have been for someone else!" I heard myself yell, almost fearfully, as I gazed at Jacqie's corpse. I half expected her to spring up and attack again.

"I'm sure, now sit still."

I could feel myself slowly drifting away, and fear seized my heart.

"I'm… I'm fading away Cami! I'm dying!" I screamed irrationally.

"No, you just have a concussion," Cami replied harshly as she treated my shoulder.

I felt the hot tears sting my eyes as I wrapped my arms around Cami's waist. She froze, but I simply put my head in her lap.

"Don't… don't let me die. Please, Cami, don't let me die."

Her entire body was rigid, but she slowly began to smooth my hair.

"I won't. I promise."

"Don't let me die." I whispered as I felt myself slowly fading away.

Don't die… Don't die… Mama… Please don't hate me, Mama…

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine:<strong>

**Ace's POV:**

"I'm _tired_," I complained behind Ruth as we walked down another corridor.

"What was our rule about not speaking to each other unless necessary?" Ruth asked, annoyed.

"This _is_ necessary! I'm _tired_!" I whined as my feet throbbed to prove my point.

A cannon shot rang through the arena and both of us stopped and froze.

"Well, I bet they were tired too," she continued, referring to whomever the cannon sounded for, "and now they're dead. So keep walking and shut up."

I let out an audible groan and continued to walk. So far, this 'alliance' with Ruth had been torture. She would never rest and would never take a break of any kind. She was constantly on the move, which meant I was constantly on the move. I had finally hit my breaking point around an hour ago and had been complaining ever since. She mostly ignored me, but had so far spoken to me on three occasions. I thought that by complaining she would be so annoyed that she would give up, but that was yet to be the case.

Most people would probably be afraid that my complaints would shatter what we had left of this fragile alliance. I, however, could care less as long as I got to rest my darn feet!

The silence was beginning to kill me from the inside out.

"Ruth," I began before another part of my brain died from boredom, "What do you like to do with your free time?"

"What happened to th-"

"I know, I know, the rule where we never got personal. Just answer the question," I replied impatiently.

She was quiet for a few moments. I prepared myself to restate the question when she whispered, "I don't know, I guess I trained."

"Trained?" I questioned loudly.

She shushed me and nodded. "I trained for the Hunger Games. Well, as well as you can train in District Twelve."

"That's ironic," I laughed, "I trained too! Well, except I was training to be a ninja."

I took a deep breath and she interrupted my, likely to be, rant, "You want to be a ninja? Like, black suit, jumping out of bushes?"

"Of course," I replied, dead serious.

I heard her stifle a giggle and I couldn't help but smile. I knew it sounded silly… In fact, it was silly. Even though I was serious about it, I was glad I at least make her smile.

I managed to skip beside Ruth and I smiled. Ruth's smile vanished as soon as I was in sight and she just looked peeved again.

In all honesty, after Lyric, I didn't believe any alliance would work. I personally thought it was a waste of my time since only one person could win. Still, after five days of being cutthroat, serious, and a bit of a bitch, I was ready to have some fun. I didn't want to be Ruth's friend. All I wanted was some friendly conversation. Just a couple hours of real relaxation.

'What else did you do besides training?"

"Besides?"

"Yeah," I continued, "You know, hang out with friends and such? I spent a lot of time reading or just hanging out with my older sister."

Ruth flinched on the last word and spat out, "I just trained."

"Rea-"

"I stopped talking to almost all of my friends and I didn't have a sister to spend time with," she hissed.

I suddenly remembered how close she was with her district partner and realized I struck a sore nerve.

Before I could even try to amend what had happened, there was a large crash from above. A muttation burst out of the air vent and leapt towards us.

Ruth sidestepped and I sprinted backwards. The muttation was a rat, of all things. However, it was the size of a large dog, had large fangs, and I could see the venom dripping onto the floor.

It made a wild leap towards me again and I dove to the ground. It spun around and Ruth charged it with her double sided sword. She made a stab at it and it hopped out of danger's way. I stood up and whipped my knife out.

The rat jumped right at Ruth but she simply kneeled down, but kept the sword raised in the air. The rat flew right above the tip of the sword and it cut a small line across its belly. I swiftly threw my knife into the rat's skull, and it fell to the ground. I wretched my knife out of it and Ruth kicked it to make sure it was truly dead.

"So, what's your favorite food?"

Ruth looked at me like I was crazy as she said, "Excuse me?"

"I asked what your favorite food was," I said with a smile.

"You are unbearable," she groaned as she walked past the muttation and me.

"Fine! What's your favorite color!" I called after her as I chased her.

She continued to ignore me.

"Favorite animal?"

* * *

><p><strong>District Two:<strong>

**Jordana's POV:**

The blackness was ebbing in and out. I could feel organs beating and fluctuating. Sometimes things were painfully clear and other times all I could see was fuzz. There was a time I knew I could hear Apollo. Right after that time I felt a deep, low pain spring through my body.

I had no idea how long I was lost. Suddenly, the striking clarity came back and I could feel a large prick. I let out a guttural sound as I thought of the needle Valhalla had placed in my neck. Surely she had come back to finish me off. She was waiting until I was at my weakest to end it all for good.

However, once the needle was removed I began to feel a soft, warm feeling envelop me. I could practically hear my heartbeat slowing and my organs healing. The burning fire that had turned into a smoldering ember was completely squashed out. I could actually feel my lungs and was aware that my breathing was slowing down. At first, I thought I was dying. That, finally, the organs had overworked themselves and were now slowing themselves down, preparing for death.

However, when I could feel someone's hand on my arm I knew I wasn't dying. If I was dying, I would lose all sense of feeling. I wouldn't see fuzz or be painfully aware. I would just slowly ooze out of reality.

"Apollo?" I whispered. I couldn't open my eyes but I could hear the gasp.

"Jordana! You're okay! Did it work! Are you feeling better?"

I could hear Apollo practically yelling with disbelief, excitement, and anticipation. Apollo, who was usually so quiet and laid-back, was almost shaking with excitement. This new side to him was so starling that I would've said something if it wasn't for the fact I had bigger things to worry about.

Such as, you know, my life.

"I… I don't know…" I murmured.

"I was so worried," he whispered, so closely I could feel his warm breath tickle my ear, "I had no idea what to do, so I left. I knew I was coming back, but the only thing I could think of was that I had to find the special item. I didn't know if it could help, but I had no choice."

He took in a shaky breath and continued, "Then I found it! It was inside a simple room. I had two choices. I could either pick a Capitol made poison or a Capitol made cure. It makes sense since we're on the sixth floor. District Six is the one that manufactures medicine. So, obviously, I picked the cure and then had to get out of the room before it filled up with poisonous gas. It wasn't as difficult as it sounds, I promise."

"That was… brave…" I murmured.

"No, not really," I could just see him in my mind blushing, "But then I heard a cannon and I thought for sure it was yours! I ran back just picturing the poison had gotten you or some other tribute had found you and finished what was started."

There was a beat of silence before he whispered, "I thought I lost you…"

I forced my eyes open and stared at him. His eye patch was gone and I could see his blind eye. It was lifeless and watery. It even oozed a little bit, but it wasn't awful to look at. He was six or seven inches away and I could still feel his breath on my face.

I looked down and gasped when I saw I was surrounded by blood. I could see bloody bandages wrapped around my stomach. Apollo looked down and a dark wrinkle appeared on his forehead.

"I tried to wrap it up the best I could."

He slowly unwrapped the bandages and grimaced.

"The medicine seemed to help heal the wound a little, but it is still pretty deep. I think you'll be able to move normally without breaking it open, but any sudden movement could tear it again."

He slowly helped me lean up against the wall behind me and I stared at the wound.

"What happened…"

"Asita happened," he growled.

I felt my eyes widen slightly in shock. Asita did that to me? I was completely shocked because I never thought Asita had the capability of doing that. I always thought she was weaker than that.

I was about to ask why when the reason popped into my brain. Apollo chose me. One thing I knew about Asita was that she was quick to anger and extremely jealous. Now that I thought about it, it doesn't surprise me at all she would do that. Stab a person who she is furious with when they can't fight back. Asita would do such a dishonorable and slightly underhanded thing.

"I'm going to get her for what she did," he muttered.

At first, I felt a rush of joy because he wanted to avenge me. Then, when I looked upon his face, I knew he wasn't thinking of me at all. He wanted to punish her for making him out to be a fool. For using him.

"One thing at a time, though," he smiled casually.

Just like that, vengeful and furious Apollo was gone. Here was the Apollo I loved. Kind, calm, and collected.

"Yeah, we need to get to the next floor," I responded.

He slung three backpacks over his shoulder, grabbed my axes, and began to help me up.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, realizing we were the only ones here.

"They left. The Career alliance is over," he spat, almost bitterly.

"And they took almost all of the supplies," I muttered.

"Yep. Valhalla, Asita, Cami, and Lucian have the rest of them. They're set for a while. They left Leith, you, and me to starve."

"Where is Leith?"

"He left as well. He was always a solo player anyways."

He slung one of my arms over his shoulder and I was surprised he could carry all of the weight. I never knew he was this strong.

In this fleeting moment I realized something very important about myself. I underestimated everyone. I thought Apollo was too weak. I thought Asita didn't have the drive to hurt someone. I thought Cami was too reliant on us. I didn't think Lucian was intelligent enough to make any sort of hidden alliance. I thought Leith was too quiet to be a killer, and I thought Valhalla didn't have the guts to betray us.

Right when my epiphany struck of just how judgmental I could be, the pain struck. My muscles and system was weak from the poison, but it was my stomach that felt like someone had sewn hot coals in it. I let out a hiss and Apollo immediately took more of my weight. The pain lessened, but it did not vanish completely.

"Is that better?"

"Yes… thank you."

Before we began to move, I murmured, "I also want to thank you for something else."

"What?"

"For not leaving me."

He looked into my eyes with a hint of joy mixed with grief, "What are friends for?."

* * *

><p><strong>District Six:<strong>

**Adam's POV:**

"I don't think I ever want to leave this floor," Charlotte smiled.

We had just found a tiny dumbwaiter and managed to get ourselves to the seventh floor.

We had thought maybe it would be a lumber manufacturing floor or, perhaps, some sort of woodshop.

Instead, it was a conservatory. Plants flourished all around us. I had even seen several birds flying around. It was really nice. The entire seventh floor was one big forest. Some parts had a tropical feel, others were more swamp-like. We had found a section that was more like the forest that surrounds District Ten. Plenty of pine trees and nice, green grass. Charlotte had already found several berries she would eat back home and we were currently collecting even more.

"This is even more of a safe haven than the last floor," she continued.

"Well, what should we have expected? We would eventually need food and water. It isn't exactly a renewable resource in a high-end underground laboratory."

Charlotte laughed and continued to pick more berries.

"Hey," I began, "Do you ever worry what life will be like if you don't get back home?"

"No, not really," she smiled.

"So, you just assume you're going to get back alive?"

"No, I don't do that either."

She stopped what she was doing and scrunched up her face a bit.

"How do I explain it… It's more than just taking one day at a time."

She continued to think as I collected more berries.

"Here's how I see it. There is nothing I can do once I'm dead. So why should I worry about something that is completely out of my control? Once I'm dead, I'll be dead and they'll have to deal with the fallout."

She then started to collect berries again, and there was a stretch of silence between us, something that was uncommon.

"That's pretty harsh," I muttered.

"It's reality. There is a difference between being an optimist and being an idiot."

I glanced over at her and realized she said this with a smile. I also noticed that this was the most relaxed she had been since we had entered the arena. I assumed it was the fact she was in a familiar environment again. It was easy for her to unwind now. Whereas I had never been surrounded by nature and I could feel myself tensing up every minute.

"I'm just glad you know your way around the outdoors. Otherwise I might end up eating poison ivy or something."

Charlotte burst out into giggles and even began to start crying. I smiled and, for the millionth time, thanked God for having Charlotte as an ally. I didn't think I could stand being in an alliance where I couldn't joke around.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't make a fool out of yourself on national television," Charlotte smiled after a minute of laughing.

"I think you've already failed at that objective," I winked.

The rest of the evening went by smoothly. We found a small pool of pure water and refilled our empty bottles and bellies. We set up a small camp and sat laughing and joking around.

The anthem rang and I looked up at the sky. The only face that was shown was the girl from District Seven, Jacqie, and I couldn't help but feel a little sad. She seemed like a really nice girl.

"I talked to her in training once," Charlotte began, "she seemed really determined."

"I know, I tried to hit on her once. She slapped me pretty hard."

Charlotte laughed, but stopped when she realized she was laughing at a story involving a dead girl.

"It's okay to laugh," I muttered, "I know when I die I want people to laugh when they remember me."

Most girls would've said 'Oh no! You won't die! We'll make it out of this.'

But, instead, Charlotte said, "Yeah… me too."

Here we were, sitting on our bums, contemplating our deaths. I should have felt depressed, but it seemed almost normal with Charlotte. Almost like it was all a joke and everyone _would_ turn out fine.

"Go to sleep. I'll take the first shift," I smiled.

Charlotte didn't even argue and just lay down.

She fell asleep quickly and I just listened to her even breathing for a while.

Midnight struck and no cannons, which meant everyone made it to the seventh floor. I wondered if a tribute was only thirty feet away, blissfully unaware we were in the vicinity. I wondered if someone was watching us right now. I wondered what the Gamemakers had planned for us.

But mostly, I wondered if my Mama would be okay once I was gone…

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys, early update :D<strong>

**I really hope you guys liked this chapter! It was interesting to write, especially since i wrote this entire thing in a room full of people and loud noises. Anyways, there are some eulogies i forgot to do! Well, one actually.**

**Thomas- I loved you! Seriously, you were defintly one of the tribtues i loved just because of how normal you were! Sadly, your death was needed for plot development. **

**Jacqie- What can i say besides the fact you were one of the most interesting tribute i received! You were a challenge to write and I enjoyed every second of it. Sadly, Lucian won the Lucian/Jacqie show down, but it was incredibly hard deciding who was going to come out on top. You will be missed.**

**So, tell me what you think! Leave a nice, long review ;) Also, my new SYOT is up on my page! So go and submit! Please :D**


	39. Day Seven: Part One: Wonderland

**Day Seven: Wonderland**

**Part One **

**District Three:**

**Valhalla's POV:**

That was disappointing.

I let out a small sigh as I sat in a pile of brush chewing on a piece of jerky. From the looks of it, Jordana was not dead and it appeared she was not going to become that way anytime soon. I highly doubted any of the Careers could have or would have carried a dying, unconscious Jordana up to this floor. This meant that either, A) the Gamemakers stopped killing people if they did not make it to the correct floor on time or B) Jordana was somehow cured.

Since reason A was illogical and impossible, I had to side with reason B.

My poison was potent, but slow working. With the right medicine, it could easily cure a person over time. I tried to imagine the Capitol scraping up enough money to send her some of their medicine this far into the game. It was next to impossible, but I could not think of another explanation at this moment in time.

I sat stoically as I thought of my next plan of action. Even though Apollo did not lose Jordana completely, he still experienced the same feeling. For now, that made me content enough to not risk my neck for another attempt at revenge. Now I could wait until the iron was hot again, so to speak.

I supposed I needed to try to stay under the radar. I knew Apollo, Asita, Jordana, and Leith were all after me in one way or another. Whether they were still in an alliance with each other or not did not matter. They were each a formidable opponent in their own way.

"Winnifred… Wait!" I heard someone call.

I became alert at the sound of that name. Winnifred was the District Five girl. The one who solved the labyrinth during the bloodbath just as quickly as me. The one tribute I respected in the arena. Not feared, not hated, but respected.

"I need to be alone for a minute," I heard Winnifred reply, startling close.

She appeared in the clearing in front of me and slumped against a tree twenty yards from me. I was fairly hidden by the large brush, but I curled into a smaller ball just to be safe. I saw her place her head in between her knees and her body began to shake.

I suddenly remembered the District Seven girl's face appearing in the sky last night. That girl was Winnifred's ally. I felt a small amount of pity rise in me before I squashed it with every single ounce of my being.

Just because someone else lost an ally doesn't mean it had to remind me of Thomas. All situations are and will be different, which makes any pity irrational.

The boy caught up, whom I remembered to be her district partner, and he stopped several feet away.

"Winnifred," he said patiently.

"What," she croaked back.

"We talked about this," he said awkwardly, "We knew she was going after Lucian. We knew that she wouldn't make it in a fight against him. We knew she was going to die…"

Winnifred began to cry harder and her district partner sighed in frustration. It was obvious he had dealt with a great deal of heartache in his life.

Winnifred had not.

"That doesn't make it any easier," Winnifred managed to sob out.

"Jacqie wouldn't want you to sit around and cry. You know she would want you to get up, put yourself together, and fight on."

From what I could conclude, the boy must have just told Winnifred that Jacqie was dead.

My first thought looking at them was that they were defenseless. Their backs were turned to me and it would be quite easy to sneak up behind them and kill them. I twirled the bracelet around my wrist, contemplating turning it into its glove form and using its valuable energy on them.

The thing that shook me out of my homicidal thoughts was a muffled sob from Winnifred.

A small part of me realized I could not kill Winnifred. Whether it was because I respected her or that I related to her, I could not kill her.

Correction. I could not kill her _easily_.

With a small sigh, I stood up and picked up my backpack. I could hear the loud shuffle of footsteps and Winnifred's surprised gasp.

I turned towards them and saw they were both armed, ready to kill. The boy held a hammer while Winnifred fumbled with her bow.

I could not help but laugh at the pathetic sight and the boy glared at me.

"Put those down. I could have killed you minutes ago," I ordered.

Winnifred set her bow down with a sniffle but the boy continued to glare.

"I'm just going to be on my way," I spoke as I took a step forward.

The boy took a step towards me and I returned his glare.

"Just because you didn't kill us doesn't mean I shouldn't kill you," he growled.

"It does if you have a brain," I replied calmly. His hand began to tremble slightly and I smiled. I walked right past him without any resistance.

Some people don't have it in them to kill. Even _more_ people don't have it in them to kill a girl who is almost a foot shorter than them.

Humans were so predictable.

I managed to avoid looking at Winnifred, knowing full well I would feel pity for her again. I walked out of the clearing without a word, and I didn't even hear them move as I disappeared from sight. Perhaps they were still digesting the fact they could have been extremely close to death.

I let myself smile slightly at the thought that, no matter what, I was still in control. Not only did I control who I killed, but I also controlled who I let live.

Before I could bask in my power, I heard the sound of a distant muttation. The smirk immediately left my face and I continued my journey with a slightly faster pace.

The thing that terrified me was not the tributes. It was the people who I _couldn't_ control. The people who were really running the show from behind their little computers…

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Cami's POV:**

I walked back into camp and glared at Lucian.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snarled, dropping the fabric I was holding. Lucian glanced towards me and continued to fiddle with Jacqie's head.

"I'm doing what I always do," he murmured.

Lucian woke up from his black out fairly quickly yesterday. Without even asking me what time it was or what was going on, he frantically looked to make sure Jacqie's body was still around. When he saw it was, he forced himself to his feet and sliced off her head.

I let out a small shudder as I remembered the disgusting sound the bone made. His concussion was only mild, thankfully, but I was still surprised at how well he dealt with the pain. It seemed that the pain almost helped him to function _better_.

Anyways, after he finished doing whatever crazy shit he does to the heads of his victims, we went on our way. Oddly enough, we almost ran straight into Leith. Instead of making our presence known, we followed him. He led us straight to the seventh floor and then the eighth floor. The entire time we followed him across the seventh floor, Lucian collected herbs and plants that he knew.

I was still beating myself up about the fact I hadn't realized how smart Leith really was. He obviously had a good sense of direction and memory. Sadly, we lost our free ride on the eighth floor. Lucian had to pee and my feet were about ready to fall apart from walking. So we stopped, and Leith just kept going, even though it was way past midnight.

I looked at Lucian and groaned. I guess I knew why he had collected the herbs. He was mummifying the heads. I could _smell_ the rotten flesh of Sage's head and the moist insides of Jacqie's skull.

"Will you stop. That is so disgusting," I hissed.

Lucian looked up at me, shook his head, and went back to work. I rolled my eyes and left the room. I walked down the hallway until I found another room to rest in.

The eighth floor was supposed to be some sort of shipping room. There were a plethora of boxes, fabric, and soft foam for packing. I flipped one of the boxes upside down and sat on it.

At times like these, I truly wondered why I stayed with Lucian. He was absolutely _insane_! He could turn on me any moment, chopping my head off just like those other girls. He was a hunter and all he cared about was the game. By now, the negative aspects of this alliance far outweighed the benefits. Plus, if he did get out of hand, I had no one to help me subdue him. It would be a fight between just the two of us, and he had the upper hand. I may be a Career, but he had complete brute strength and towering height over me.

In fact, if it wasn't for yesterday, I knew I would have left him. Actually, scratch that, I would have killed him. If he would have just passed out after his fight with Jacqie, I would have stabbed him to death and left. What changed everything was what happened before he passed out. His eyes were, for the first time, soft and hurt. He looked broken and desperate. He pleaded with me to save him, make sure he didn't die.

How could anyone say no to that?

Well, let's be honest, a lot of people could say no to that. In fact, every tribute would have said no to that except me. The reasoning in my mind was that he had done nothing wrong to me. He had kept me safe and wasn't actually bad company when he was in his right mind. When it was just him and me, he was hilarious at times. He had a wicked sense of humor that seemed to go well with mine.

"What, you can't handle a little blood?"

I looked towards the doorway and saw Lucian standing there with a bloody knife.

The flaw in my reasoning was that he had done nothing wrong to me _yet_.

"No, what I can't handle is that you're carving up those poor girl's skulls!" I hissed.

"You wouldn't care if they were alive," Lucian smiled.

"Yeah, you're right. A cut to the neck is one thing. Keeping their heads, creepy but tolerable. Mutilating their skulls just so you can keep them _forever_, disgusting."

He set the knife down on a nearby table and began to walk towards me. "No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean, oh wise one?" I asked sarcastically.

"I meant that you enjoy watching others in pain," he replied, as if we were discussing the weather.

"I do not, you psycho," I yelled.

"I saw how you looked at Oceana when the acid was burning her skull. I watched you gaze at Jacqie when she was being held captive. I've seen you smile as our old alliance went through inner turmoil. You enjoy other's pain," he smirked.

"You know shit," I stated and turned away from him.

I thought back to the events he brought up. I'll admit I was mildly fascinated as I watched the acid quickly eat away at Oceana's face. I was interested in the reasoning behind keeping Jacqie captive and watching her slowly lose her will. Sure, a normal person would have been screaming as the acid did its job or be horrified watching some girl be treated as an animal.

Just because I wasn't normal didn't mean I was crazy.

As if answering my thoughts, Lucian said, "You and I are one in the same. That's the only reason I agreed to be part of your alliance and that's the only reason you let me stay in it."

"You've got to be kidding me! I would never do what you do!"

"Of course you wouldn't shrink heads or keep small trophies from your conquests," he whispered as he got uncomfortably close, "But you are a hunter just like me. You feed off of others. You love to watch others run themselves into the ground, knowing you had a part in it. You practically get a high from it. And now that you've been introduced to the Hunger Games, you've realized that you also enjoy it when they're in physical pain too."

He stood inches behind me and whispered in my ear, "Am I wrong?"

I spun around and stood toe to toe with him.

"You're _extremely_ wrong," I said shakily, suddenly not knowing the true answer.

A smile curled over his lips, "Prove it."

Before I could even ask what he was going on about now, he took a step back and began to rifle through one of his backpacks. He stopped, grabbing something. I expected him to fling out a head, but instead he pulled out one of the whips we collected on the second floor.

He handed the whip to me and slipped his bloodstained jacket off. He then grabbed the zipper on his jumpsuit and began to unzip it.

"What the hell are you doing!" I yelled for the hundredth, and most likely not the last, time.

He slipped his arms out of the tight suit and let it hang from his waist. The muscles across his shoulders and chest rippled as he bent over to close his backpack.

"Whip me."

With those two simple words, I burst out into laughter. I could feel the tears beginning to form in my eyes, but I swiftly realized he wasn't kidding.

"You're serious!" I gasped.

He turned his back to me and held his arms out. I stood behind him, unsure what to do. Even I knew that hitting a psychopath was not generally a _good_ idea. Still, not doing what a psychopath said usually wasn't recommended either. As I debated which was the lesser of two evils, the muscles in Lucian's back shifted and glided over one another. I knew it was sick and wrong, but those were the muscles of a hunter. I knew how despicable it was because of _what_ he was hunting, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat attracted to him.

Another horrible idea was to let yourself be attracted to a psychopath.

Right when I was about to tell him that this was stupid and instruct him exactly where he should shove this whip, he glanced behind his shoulder at me. He gave me that small smile that drove me crazy.

Not the "I-want-your-babies" crazy, but the "I'm-going-to-slit-your-throat" crazy.

That smile seemed to say everything from a challenge to "I know I'm far superior to you". A smile that I absolutely despised with every fiber of my being.

Which is why I gripped the whip, raised my arm back, and cracked it as hard as I could.

The welt immediately began to swell across his back. In response, he let out a groan of pleasure. I dropped the whip and let out a small sound of disgust.

"You're screwed up," I hissed.

He turned towards me with a wolfish smile, "You know you enjoyed it."

I began to walk past him, but he reached out and grabbed my right wrist.

"Let go," I snarled.

"Tell me the truth," he said.

I continued to glare at him, and he continued to tighten his hold on my wrist. The pressure began to build even more and I whimpered slightly.

"I'll never understand how you can enjoy pain, let alone get your rocks off to it," I snapped.

The grip lessened as he laughed heartily.

"It's simple really. I enjoy the feeling, just like you enjoy watching the feeling," he smiled.

He let go of my wrist and thrust the handle of a knife towards me. He forced it into my hand and grabbed my wrist again. Before I could even protest, he made me slide the tip of the knife across his bare chest. A slight trail of blood followed the blade's path.

"I can see it in your eyes. You like the sight of blood."

I hadn't realized how intently I had been staring until I looked up and saw how much closer he had gotten.

"Why are you even doing this?" I asked, my voice quivering slightly.

"It's simple. I'm screwed up and you're screwed up. Why don't we be screwed up together… At least until one of us dies since that's fairly inevitable."

He let go of my wrist and continued to stare into my eyes. A story flashed into my mind. Fairytales were popular in the Capitol, which meant they were popular in District One. I could practically hear my mother's voice telling me a story. It seemed like such a long time ago... She _died_ such a long time ago…

_There once was a young girl who fell down a hole._

Lucian began to inch closer and I felt my breath hitch.

_She was chasing a white rabbit and ended up falling into a completely different world._

My grip on the knife tightened.

_In the world, she met many strange creatures. Creatures that changed her forever._

Lucian's eyes gleamed as he was now a few inches from my face. This close, he could be mistaken for some creature. Maybe a wolf.

_This girl fell down the rabbit hole and was changed forever._

Am I ready to take the fall? To go to a completely different reality that I've never experienced before?

_Some say she went mad. Others say she became a genius._

My heart was doing flips in its chest.

_Young girl… rabbit hole… fell… creatures…_

Screw it!

I've already fallen down the rabbit hole.

Without a second thought, I dug the tip of the knife into Lucian's side and crushed my lips to his. I heard him moan through the kiss and I shivered, knowing I had caused the pain.

_Welcome to Wonderland._

* * *

><p><strong>Mentor's POV:<strong>

**District One:**

**Rouge's POV:**

Everyone in the Control Room was shocked.

As soon as Lucian seemed to be threatening Camilla, all of us expected a fight to erupt. Every person in Panem was probably watching them, waiting for what would not come to pass. Things started to take a creepy, sexual turn and all of us waited for Camilla to fly into a rage. Even when Lucian was leaning in, I thought that she would take that knife and ram it into his heart.

Instead, we were now practically watching porn. Things were getting hot and heavy. All the while Camilla was doing small things to cause Lucian pain. I turned away from the screen in disgust. There was no love there. It was all lust and… crazy…

I tried to think what angle Camilla could be playing. She was quite the manipulative person, but I couldn't see what she had to gain from this. Lucian was insane, and she knew that nothing she could do would make him one hundred percent loyal to her. In fact, what she was currently doing with him put her in more danger.

Before I could even think of what I could possibly do to help her, I heard laughter bounce off the walls. The silence was broken and I shot up to see what had caused it. Lorie was staring at me from her console with a smug smile across her face.

"What is it now, Lorie?" I asked, almost too exhausted to even care what was running through her mind.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how nice it was to see another pair of love birds from District One and Seven."

My entire body froze at even the hint of Link and me, and I sent her my coldest look.

"I just love a good romance," she continued.

I thought back to when Link and I were in the arena. Was this what it was like for all the viewers? Was it like watching porn of some kind? Did they all assume I had some kind of angle? Did they see no love behind it?

Maybe that was it then. Perhaps Camilla did love him in some small, twisted way. Or maybe I should just take it for what it was.

"Of course, it's all fake. There is obviously no real love there," she said, almost copying my own thoughts.

She stood up and began to walk towards me. She flicked back her stick straight hair and sighed, "They're just using each other. For sex, that is."

Before I could respond, she smiled, "Some of us are above using other people for protection."

Lorie meant that jab at me and I took it full force. I stood up and snarled, "I'd stop talking if I were you."

"Come on, Rouge," Lorie started, "We all know that love doesn't actually flourish in the Hunger Games. It's all strategy and advertising. We both know that Cami's and Lucian's popularity are going to go up."

I could feel her goading me. She wanted to piss me off. She knew I couldn't do anything about it.

"Of course, last year you didn't need a popularity boost. Maybe Link did, but you were just fine in that department. So why don't you just finally admit you needed him to protect you? You've already won, why keep up the lie?"

"You're such an idiot," I managed to say through my teeth.

"That's your great comeback," Lorie said with a giggle.

"Leave her alone. Go back and paint your nails or something," I heard Memory say from across the Control Room. At first, I was extremely confused about why she was defending me. Then I realized that she hated Lorie more than she hated me and Memory had fallen in love in the arena as well.

"It's true, I do need a new shade," she sighed.

I began to sit back down when I heard her giggle, "Maybe Camilla will get pregnant. Wouldn't that be wonderful! I bet the Capitol would love another Hunger Game's bastard."

I spun around and flew towards Lorie.

You can insult me, my life, or even Link. You insult my _child_, and I'll _kill_ you!

Lorie's back was to me, which meant she didn't see my fist coming. My fist connected with the back of her head and she went crashing towards the ground. As she fell, I grabbed her hair with my other hand and pulled as hard as I could. Lorie screeched in pain and surprise. I clawed at her throat with my free hand as I slammed her head against the nearest console. I felt someone grab me around the waist, but I let out a shriek, still pulling and clawing at Lorie.

With on final tug, I was thrown to the ground and slid at least fifteen feet from Lorie. I stood up and charged towards her again, only to be blocked by Clinton and Copper. They pinned my arms behind my back and held me slightly above the ground.

My mind finally caught up with my body and I realized I had been screaming _you bitch_ over and over again.

I closed my mouth and stopped struggling. Lorie had claw marks on her neck and a few scratches on her face. Her eyes were clenched shut and she held the back of her head.

"You're in so much trouble," Copper whispered to me, almost like how the kids used to do it back in grade school when you called someone an idiot.

Except I didn't call someone an idiot. I attacked a fellow victor… In public… In view of the Gamemakers.

The sense of dread quickly settled in.

"No, you're wrong. It's worse than trouble. I'm dead meat."

* * *

><p><strong>Hey so I know it's been a long time since I updated and this update is pretty short :(<strong>

**I'm sorry about that, but life is life. I got a pretty bad virus and I'm still recovering from it, but I missed some school. Which meant that took some time for me to catch back up. Long story short, I tried to make a pretty big character development/plot change in this chapter and I think I succeeded. And I promise, the next chapter will be longer and more action packed! I have the next chapter all planned out in my head and there will be a few surprises :D **

**Also, poll on my profile! It won't change anything in the story, but I'm just super curious what your answers will be :D**

**So drop a review and I'll talk to you later!**


	40. Day Seven: Part Two: Unfair

**Day Seven: Unfair**

**Part Two:**

**District Thirteen:**

**Alexei's POV:**

"This is… amazing," I whispered to myself as I emerged from the final underground floor. Ruth's map suddenly lit up and it updated itself. The area that was previously 'unknown' was now filled with floor plans. I looked at the holographic map and quickly studied what was above the underground laboratory. It appeared to be a humungous mansion. There were at least five stories. The basic shape of the mansion was a large square. As in the main part of the house was in the front, but it branched out to the sides. Then it hit a certain point and sharply went backwards. Then it sharply turned again and met at the back. There was a large empty space in the middle, which I assumed was a garden or courtyard.

As I looked closer, I realized it wasn't a mansion as much as I compound. There seemed to be many rooms, as well as what appeared to be a huge cathedral at the back of the compound.

In other words, it seemed as if it was more of a community that lived here than anything else.

Right now, according to the map, I had come out in the storage. I looked around and saw many empty crates and barrels lying around. I swiftly memorized the way up to the main foyer and began to step over a group of crates. The room was musty and I could smell something was rotting in here.

I took in a deep breath of moderately fresh air as I entered a dim hallway that was lit by a few candles that were attached to the walls. I turned the map back on for light and took a right.

I felt my right hand begin to twitch and I felt a deep loss come over me. Ever since that bitch Ruth had _cut off_ my right hand, I would randomly feel it itch or twitch. Yet, every time I looked down it was still gone.

I was going to make her pay. Not only was it the most pain I had ever felt in my life, but it almost didn't even _compare_ to what it felt like to have to cauterize it. The burning was so painful that I felt like I wouldn't be able to move it in years. Plus, I had to do it to myself. I didn't have anyone to just force it upon me for my own good. Nope, I had to sear my own flesh to save my own life.

I wondered how District Thirteen was feeling about me now. The "Golden Boy" of District Thirteen was certainly not shining. In fact, now they could see every single crack in the statue. So much for spending my entire life creating that perfect façade. It was now a complete and utter waste of time.

I stepped out of the hallway and walked up a flight of creaky wooden stairs. I slammed the door open and took in the foyer. It was beautiful and eerie all at the same time. The floor was marble and there was a grand staircase. A dazzling chandelier hung from the ceiling and the windows were draped with gorgeous tapestries. It was up to Capitol standards in grandeur.

However, it was only up to District standards in sanitation. Large cobwebs cluttered the chandelier and holes were eaten through the tapestries. There was no power what so ever and the only light was from the windows. I could see several mice scampering across the floor and the carpet on the large staircase was moldy.

This compound appeared to be abandoned. It would explain the rotten food in the storage and empty crates. I walked towards the large front door and tried to turn the knob. It wouldn't budge. I continued to shake it and rattle it. I looked for a lock but there was none to be seen.

I walked to the window and took a small knife from my backpack. I smashed it into the window to only have it bounce off. I tried punching the window but I was only left with a throbbing fist.

I could see a forest in the distance and the sun was dancing in the sky, but it didn't matter.

I was stuck in here. The rest of the games were supposed to be held in this large compound.

I was trapped.

Suddenly, I heard giggling and I spun around. I saw the slightest movement as a head full of blonde ringlets ran down the left corridor on the second story.

"Come play with me."

The voice was young, girlish, and frightening. It felt like the voice came from right beside me, yet no one was around. Suddenly, footprints began to appear on the floor.

Bloody footprints.

"Come play with me."

I knew it was a bad decision to listen to a voice in my head and follow a set of bloody footprints, but I had a feeling that if I _didn't_ listen to the voice she would come find me.

And that seemed quite a deal worse than finding her.

I thought back to last year's games and thought of the muttation Angel. She talked to the tributes, but she only delivered messages. The Gamemakers wouldn't kill me yet. I was the first person to get out of the underground laboratory.

In fact, they should be _rewarding_ me or something.

Yeah, Alexei, they're rewarding you. Just keep telling yourself that.

I began to follow the footprints, and as I began to walk the previous set of bloody footprints would disappear behind me. I took a deep breath as I began to climb up the stairs.

"Hurry up!" the voice screamed impatiently.

My pace quickened as I took a left. I began to jog down the corridor and passed by many rooms. All of the doors were closed and I dared not take any additional time to check what was in them. I turned right and climbed another set of stairs.

"I'm waiting," I heard the voice say sweetly as I saw the head full of blonde ringlets take a left at the end of the hallway. I checked to see that the footprints followed her as I sprinted down the hallway. I continued to see flashes of blonde as I ran through the compound.

I didn't stop running until I made it to the fourth story. I froze in shock at what lay before me.

"Keep running," the voice hissed.

I forced myself to keep following the footsteps as I stared at the open doors. Not every door was open, but the ones that were shocked me. Inside each room was a bedroom, just as I suspected, except each bed had chains, rope, and handcuffs attached to it. The doors also had multiple locks on them from the _outside_. Not to mention that in every room blood was splattered in different areas.

A chill went down my spine as I realized maybe this wasn't some community compound.

It was something far worse.

I ascended to the fifth floor and saw the blonde race up another flight of stairs. I raced to the stairs and door at the top slammed shut.

"Come play with me."

I walked up the stairs slowly, suddenly more terrified then I had ever been in my life. I eased the door open and walked into the room. The girl was standing in front of a large window at the end of the large attic room. I remembered from the map that there was one large attic room on each side of the square facing the courtyard. That meant that this was a five story compound with a basement and four attic rooms.

I began to walk towards the girl, knife ready. This was obviously her bedroom. There was a large bed to my left and a dresser to my right. There was also a vanity table to the left of the window. The thing that caught my attention the most, however, was the dolls. This entire room was filled with dolls. Some of them were small, porcelain dolls, while others were life sized. All of the dolls ranged from porcelain to plush to wooden. The life sized dolls stretched from little girls and boys to young men and women to elderly people. Most of them, however, were adolescent girls dressed in very extravagant gowns.

Every doll had something in common, though. Every single one of their eyes felt like they were trained on me. I knew it was a trick of the craft, but their eyes seemed to follow me wherever I moved.

I was right behind the girl and said, "You wanted to play?"

Before she could respond, I brought my knife down on her shoulder. However, instead of reacting she simply collapsed to the ground. The knife stuck in her as she fell and I realized with a pit in my stomach that I hadn't stabbed flesh. It was something harder.

I turned the girl over and yelled in fright as she smiled at me. The girl who had been running down the corridor was nothing more than a doll.

"Of course I did!" someone giggled.

I turned around and saw a small girl shut the door that led out of the attic behind her. She couldn't be older than nine and had beautiful red hair. It cascaded down to her lower back in waves. Her eyes were a stunning green and her skin and teeth were both a bright white. She was wearing a frilly pink dress and had some of her hair pinned back in a large pink boy.

Suddenly her smile faltered and she glared at me.

"You damaged my doll."

She was staring at the doll that still had the knife in its shoulder.

I couldn't think of a response as I was still shocked that the doll had led me here.

"You _damaged_ my _doll_!" she screamed.

Suddenly, a blinding pain went through my shoulder and I screamed. I looked at my right shoulder to see my knife sticking out of it.

"How… but… you…" I gasped in fright.

"How does it feel!" she yelled, her voice getting louder by the second.

The pain worsened as the knife began to dig deeper on its own accord.

"I'm sorry!" I managed to scream out, knowing she was somehow doing this.

"I'm going to tell Daddy what you did!"

Before I could respond, the knife was out of my body and flew to the little girl. She caught it with her right hand and, just as suddenly as it started, her temper tantrum was over.

Then, with a giggle, she quietly said, "I have a better idea. I'll punish you myself and have Daddy fix the doll and you up later."

Then, without a seconds notice, fire burned through my body. I fell to the floor as I screamed in pure agony. I looked to my left, and my entire left arm from the shoulder down was gone. Then every fiber of my body shrieked in anguish as my right leg was torn off my body as well. I couldn't even feel what happened next, but I knew I was just being torn limb from limb, literally. My last dying thought was that this was unfair. The Golden Boy was nothing more than a mass of bloody appendages, all because the Capitol ordered some little muttation to do it. It wasn't fair…

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

A cannon rang out and both of us jumped slightly.

"Who do you think that was for?" Winnifred asked.

"Well, let's see," I responded cynically, "The tributes left are the ever psychotic and unpredictable Cami, Lucian, Valhalla, Ruth, and Leith. Then we have the strong and talented, who are Jordana, Apollo, and Alexei. Ooh, we certainly can't forget the brilliant and manipulative Lucy, Asita and Ace. This then leaves the boring tributes, who are us, Charlotte, Adam, Lyric, and Hawk. This leads me to believe that most likely it was either Lyric or Hawk who died, since I doubt they're stilled allied with anyone since we last encountered them."

Winnifred responded quietly, "I think the only true psychopath is Lucian…"

"I think anyone who trains for this is somewhat of a psychopath, I just thought Apollo and Jordana were human _enough_ to not be put into that category," I replied as we began to walk again.

"Plus, Valhalla didn't attack us," Winnifred continued.

"Yeah, because she most likely didn't feel like killing us. Winnie, I really don't think she spared us out of the kindness of her heart," I argued.

Winnifred simply shrugged and said, "You never know…"

I let out a sigh, deciding no matter how hard I tried Winnifred would always be an optimist and try to see the good in things. Maybe I would have tried to keep arguing my point anyways, but I was still trying to be sensitive because of Jacqie's death. I personally didn't care all that much. I barely knew the girl and she was an _idiot_ for going after Lucian. The one thing I cannot stand more than anything is people who just don't have common sense. I'm fine with stupid people, but when you can't realize the simple things in life then I really just want to put you out of your misery. For example, one of the simple things in life is that you don't go hunt down a crazy psychopath who has already tried to kill you on several occasions. Really, it's not all that hard to figure out!

However, Winnifred obviously cared about the girl, and I sort of cared about Winnifred so that meant it affected me slightly.

Not to say all of the sudden Winnifred and I were friends. No, this alliance was still based on the fact that we needed each other to get farther in this game. I needed her to figure out all of the stupid puzzles we came across and she needed me in case we got into a scuffle with tributes. I knew for a fact she would never have it in her to kill. She may not be the best with a bow, but the real reason she missed every time was because she freaked herself out thinking about an arrow sticking out of the opponent's skull.

Anyway, my point was that it affected me because she was my ally and I needed her to be in tip-top shape. I only cared about her well-being because if affected mine. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

"Shit!" I heard someone yell.

Winnifred and I stopped in our tracks.

"Shit, shit, shit, _shit_!" The voice continued, this time at a much quieter volume.

I motioned for Winnifred to follow as I crept through a small pile of brush to our left. I swiftly spotted Asita as she applied pressure to one of her feet. I rolled my eyes, realizing she must have stubbed her toe.

However, the sense of annoyance quickly fled as the rest of the Careers popped into my head. I glanced around the clearing, waiting for an axe to be thrown my way or have a sword run through me.

Nothing happened, except for Asita's string of curse words that were nothing more than a whisper.

I glanced at Winnifred and realized she must have come to the same conclusion as she looked at me with searching eyes.

Now we had to decide the hard part. Did we attempt to kill her? I could see she was well off and had plenty of supplies. I knew that we could easily overpower her. The idea of an alliance was quickly thrown out of my head. She was obviously manipulative and those were the worst type of allies. The idea of just leaving seemed such a waste of such a good opportunity.

Winnifred shakily strung her bow and I knew that seeing someone die after Jacqie just died would leave her a puddle of emotions. I mentally sighed, knowing that I had to look out for Winnifred first. I guess we would just take them by force, but we couldn't kill her. No, that wouldn't do anyone any good.

I nodded at Winnifred and we jumped out of the brush. Asita, surprisingly enough, jumped to a standing position in shock. She slung her bag back over her shoulder and pulled a beautiful knife out in one, swift motion.

"Come on, all three of us know how this is going to end," I said almost immediately, "Just hand over your stuff and we'll be on our way."

She looked between Winnifred and I and her face appeared crestfallen. She slowly slid the bag from her shoulder and I was slightly surprised. Although she was a lying slut, she was a lying slut who managed to get into the Careers. I expected more of a… fight? Maybe I expected her to try and convince us to be part of her alliance. I don't know, anything but complete surrender.

I suppose if I was really expecting it, I should have been more prepared for what happened next.

Asita threw the bag at me, startling me enough to automatically attempting to catch it. As I grappled for the bag and dropped my hammer, Asita sprinted towards Winnifred and smacked the bow out of her hand. She latched onto Winnifred's hair and smashed her head into a nearby tree. I threw the bag back at Asita and swooped down for my hammer. The bag hit Asita in the back of the head, but she recovered quickly. She slashed at me with the knife but I jumped out of the way. I brought the hammer down, aiming for her head, but she grabbed my wrist before it hit her. She then twisted hard and fast, causing me to drop the hammer. She pulled me towards her and drove her knee into my groin.

I let out a moan of pain as I hit the ground. I felt nauseous as I tried to collect myself. I could hear a slight struggle and I knew Winnifred must have gotten back up and attacked Asita. However, by the time I recovered enough to stand, Winnifred was on the ground and half our supplies were gone.

"What just happened?" Winnifred asked as she tried to gather her breath.

"I think we just got tricked…" I murmured.

"What?"

"She must have seen us or known we were nearby. She faked being weak and injured to catch us off guard. In other words, we just got hustled," I cursed, "I should have known it was a hoax. It's one of the most common and basic street tricks!"

"I'm just astonished… I didn't know she was that fast."

"She wasn't," I snapped, "Sure, she may have fast reflexes, but I doubt she can run fast. I bet we can catch her! Which direction did she go?"

Winnifred shrugged as she replied, "I have no clue. She punched me in the stomach and knocked the breath out of me. By the time I looked back up, she was gone."

I let out a deep breath, slumping back to the ground.

"It's okay…" Winnifred muttered, scooting closer to me.

"No it's not. I should have just left her alone. I should have been more prepared. I should of-"

"You did what you thought was best," she shrugged, "Both of us are uninjured and we still have plenty of supplies. We're going to get through this because it's practically nothing. It's not like she took everything or our weapons."

"Always the optimist," I muttered.

I felt her put her hand on my shoulder and I looked at her. I expected her to look sad or understanding, but instead she was just staring off into the distance.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

"What?"

Suddenly I heard a howl.

"Mutts," we said in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>President:<strong>

**Raven's POV:**

"President Raven," A man acknowledged as I marched down the halls. I didn't even nod as I stormed towards my destination. Usually, I could have just called and had this settled but then another situation came up. Two situations warranted a personal visit.

"Lavender," I barked as I stormed into the Control Room. Every single Gamemaker jumped, except for my lovely Head Gamemaker.

"Yes, Madame President," she replied, not even looking up from her control panel.

"I hope you have a brilliant plan stored up in that head of yours," I said curtly as I stood right next to her.

"Well, I am in the middle of a brilliant plan. Something to spice up the games," Lavender replied as she typed away.

I looked up on the screen and saw different shots of several tributes being chased by hoards of muttations.

"That's not enough spice," I stated and sent her a glare.

"Then what would you suggest?" Lavender sighed, lifting her gaze from her panel long enough to make eye contact.

"The Capitol is, frankly, bored," I started, "Many of the tributes are still alive and they have grown tired of your little labyrinth."

"Last time I checked, the Capitol was still buzzing about Valhalla," Lavender retorted.

"That doesn't change the fact that Jordana survived and that they are still bored to death of the arena. Now that they've seen the top portion and some of what it contains, they crave to see it put to use."

Lavender spun around, completely shocked, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," I snarled as I leaned in closer, "That you need to get the tributes up there as soon as physically possible."

"What!" Lavender exclaimed.

"We spent months on the next few sections!"

"What about the rest of the items!"

I could hear the Gamemakers shouting in outrage and astonishment, thrown by my statement.

"That's an order!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, silencing everyone.

"Figure something out," I snarled, "Otherwise I'll do it myself… And I know none of you will appreciate that."

I stormed out of the room before anyone could raise an argument.

I marched towards my next destination, checking this task off of my mental list. I knew I wouldn't have to carry out on my threat. Lavender was the best Head Gamemaker we've had in decades. She always had something up her sleeve. This time would be no different.

I made it to the basement of the building and walked down the hallway. I came to a door guarded by several men and I motioned for them to open it. I walked into the previously locked room and took in my surroundings. It was a fairly small room with an uncomfortable bed, a wooden table, and a toilet. However, they also set up a small screen that was used for mentoring the games. I also could see a device used to communicate with her fellow victor and mentor.

"You are _quite_ the nuisance, aren't you?" I asked, pressing a finger to my temple.

Rouge rose from her seat and glared at me, "Only a nuisance? I was _so_ going for a disaster or calamity."

"I usually admire your spunk," I growled, "but right now I am not equipped to deal with your annoying sense of humor. So just drop the attitude and tell me exactly what happened so that this can be resolved and you can go back to properly doing your job without making a spectacle of yourself!"

Rouge let out a small sigh and slumped back into her chair, "Lorie insulted me so I attacked her."

"And why did you attack her?" I asked just like a teacher would ask their student.

"Well, the psychiatrist that was sent to me told me that 'sometimes, a victor had flashbacks or was emotionally unstable.' He said it was a natural cycle and that I just needed to continue to heal. Then he spent the next twenty minutes rambling on about nothing while staring at my breasts."

"We both know that is a load of bull and that you're perfectly fine. Why did you attack her?"

Rouge hesitated for second before replying carefully, "She compared Link's and my relationship to Lucian's and Camilla's affair."

"That warranted physical assault?" I continued, remembering how deadly Rouge's temper was when it came to certain, sensitive subjects.

"Yes," she replied with a huff.

"What are her injuries?"

"I think I scraped her pretty good. These things are a great weapon," she smiled as she held up her diamond nails.

"Are you going to apologize?"

"Hell no!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I can't exactly help you out of this one," I sighed, "Just stay down here for another day or so and then you're free to go as long as you avoid Lorie. If something like this happens again, we can't blame it on post-traumatic stress disorder. You'll have to be punished much more severely."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Rouge asked, shocked, as I began to walk out.

I smiled as I replied, "Because, no customer wants to buy damaged merchandise."

Her face immediately scrunched up. I couldn't help but laugh at her pitiful anger.

"You're disgusting."

"And you're a whore."

"Not by choice."

"Exactly. It's just delightful to have this much power," I responded with a laugh as the guards slammed the door behind me.

I continued to laugh as I walked down the hall, my mood suddenly lifted.

It was just downright _unfair_ for me to have this much power… But I loved every second of it!

* * *

><p><strong>District Eight:<strong>

**Lyric's POV:**

"Here," Lucy said.

I glanced around the small alcove with a glare.

"Why here?" I asked.

She put a finger to her lips and walked to a nearby tree and climbed up it. She disappeared from sight and I stayed rooted to the spot she told me to stay at. Ever since we woke up early this morning, Lucy was acting extremely weird. She was eerily quiet and unresponsive. The only time she talked was when she was ordering me around. Not that I really minded since she saved my life, but she was definitely thinking deeply about something.

I heard the howl of a muttation in the distance and shivered. When I was growing up, most kids seemed to be terrified of the Careers. I, oddly enough, wasn't scared of the Careers as I watched the games. Over the years, they became predictable and easy to see coming. The one thing that always turned my blood to ice was muttations. They were changing every year and a tribute, or viewer, never knew where they were going to pop out. They came in all different shapes and sizes, but all were deadly in some sort of way. Whether it be a physical deadliness or the fact that they led you towards inevitable death was up to the Gamemakers to decide.

Suddenly, the howling got closer.

"Lucy," I called up the tree as I spun around.

Three tributes came crashing through the forest and I immediately felt sick. Ruth and Ace were standing on one side of the clearing, while the boy from District Nine was standing to my left. I could see the muttations surrounding the border of the alcove, howling away. From what I could tell, they were a mixture between a hyena and some sort of insect. The pincers on the hyena's jaws snapped at me, almost as if they were laughing.

"What the hell!" Ace yelped as she glared at the muttations, "Why won't they leave us alone!"

"I think we have bigger problems to worry about then the muttations," Ruth murmured.

Ace looked towards me, shock clearly in her eyes. "That's impossible! You're supposed to be dead!"

Before I could respond, the boy snarled, "Yeah, I would have told you he lived if you hadn't taken all my supplies while I was asleep and left me for dead!"

Ace's face paled slightly as she began, "Hawk, lis-"

"Save it. If that's what you did after I _saved_ your life, I don't even want to think of what you'd do or say now." Hawk snarled.

Hawk whipped out a throwing knife and held it menacingly in his hands. Ace glanced around, looking for somewhere to hide or run. Ruth brought out her sword, and I found myself impressed at its condition and craftsmanship.

I thought about calling out to Lucy, but I knew that would be a stupid move. The best chance I had at getting out of this alive was if Lucy did some sort of sneak attack.

Hawk threw a knife straight at Ace but she skillfully dodged it. Ruth charged towards Hawk while Ace fumbled for some sort of weapon. I spun around and sprinted towards a nearby tree. A muttation jumped forward, blocking my path, and made a grab for me. I let out a girlish squeal as I fell backwards. I could see the venom dripping off its fangs and I scurried backwards.

Searing pain shot through my body as I felt something thud right into my back. I instinctively reached behind me and pulled out a knife. I glanced back to see Ace letting go of another throwing knife that was aimed in my direction.

I rolled across the ground and pushed myself to my feet.

I could see Hawk fending off Ruth effectively, which surprised me slightly. Ruth was a pretty good fighter and you had to have a solid defense to succumb to her relentless attack. At least, that's what I saw in training.

Then, all of us stopped. Even Ruth froze in mid-strike. The muttations that had been loudly clicking around us were now completely silent. They were just staring… watching.

Suddenly, Lucy jumped out of the tree and into the center of the field. I was shocked. No person should be able to jump that far.

Then, as if reading my thoughts, she looked straight at me and smiled.

Her teeth were now razor sharp tips.

Ruth let out a small shriek and I gasped.

"The Gamemakers decided it was about time to heat things up.

Suddenly, the muttations began clicking, louder than ever. Lucy fell to her knees and began groaning. Her back began to contort in unnatural ways and I could see every vertebrae in her back rearranging itself. Her muscles began to expand and fluctuate in different places. She let out a blood curdling scream as the bones in her skull began to extend forward and the skin tightened.

Lucy looked up and I heard Ace scream over the sound of muttations. Lucy's face wasn't human anymore. Her eyes were slits, like that of a snake, and her smile was so large and wide that it was completely unnatural. Her nose was nonexistent and her hair had turned a startling red. Her body was now that of a fox or canine, except that she still had hands that were now abnormally long.

"I'd suggest you run now," Lucy screamed in a high-pitched shriek.

She then let out another unintelligible roar and the muttations swarmed towards us.

I felt something nip at my side and I let out a startled shriek. I kicked the muttation as hard as I could in the face as I felt my heart pound unbelievably hard in my chest. I kicked another in the jaw and realized they weren't attack me, they were swarming to Lucy.

I began to run through the ocean of mutts towards the nearest exit. I heard shrieks from Ruth and Ace, as well as a string of cuss words from Hawk. I had to use every fiber of my being to control my terror. My brain was practically collapsing and I just wanted to curl up in a ball and wait for it to be all over.

It was only the tiniest amount of willpower that kept me powering through the muttations. I finally made it through the pack when I was knocked down. I was picked up off the ground and thrown down on my back. I let out a scream as I felt several bones in my body break.

Above me was Lucy… Or what was left of her. She was chuckling darkly as she smiled at me with her unnaturally large smile.

"You're a mutt," I managed to gasp out.

"Good observation," she chortled.

"You seemed so real," I retched.

"It's called good programming."

"I just… You…"

"Just following orders," she laughed in my ear.

She opened her mouth wider and I saw several more sets of teeth. They began to rotate and she began to get closer and closer to my face. I closed my eyes and bit my tongue to keep from screaming. I knew I was always fighting a losing battle. I knew there was no way I was going to make it out of this alive. I knew I should have died in the bloodbath. I… I just had hope. Hope that I could make it out of this alive. Hope that everything would end up okay. Hope that I would wake up and find out it was just a dream…

The pain shot through my body and I knew I was being devoured. The last thought before I blinked out of existence was that maybe it was just a dream… Maybe I would wake up and everything would be perfect… Just a dream…

* * *

><p><strong>District Two:<strong>

**Apollo's POV:**

"We should rest here," I said.

Jordana grunted in agreement and practically collapsed to the floor. I began to set up camp for the night with a sigh. The medicine wasn't working like we thought it would. Jordana was still badly wounded from where Asita stabbed her and without the proper medical attention it was likely to get infected.

Ironically enough, Jordana and I never learned anything about first aid because the Career medic _was_ Asita. I threw the sleeping bag down forcefully and began to unroll it.

It wasn't entirely her fault. Jordana and I came to the conclusion that the poison severely damaged her immune and recovery systems. Once Jordana got an infection, it would be nearly impossible for her to recover without some heavy duty medication.

"You don't need to abuse the sleeping bag," Jordana chuckled.

"I'm glad this is all so amusing to you," I snapped.

"You could lighten up a bit," Jordana retorted, "I'm the one dying, not you."

I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore the way my heart stung after that comment. I continued to set up camp in relative silence except for Jordana's slightly labored breaths. It hurt to think about losing an ally, but it was a thought that I needed to accept. The odds of Jordana making it for a few more days were bleak at best. Her wound wasn't clotting right and she would randomly start bleeding often because of how easily the wound tore back open. All of the odds were against her, yet she was somehow cracking jokes and trying to pull through.

"It just sucks," I replied after a while.

"Huh?" she asked, sounding a little dreary.

"It sucks that you're dying. It sucks that in a few days I'm going to be alone. It sucks that it's all my fault," I said through gritted teeth.

"It's not your fault," Jordana replied with an eye roll, "It's Valhalla's fault. She's a psychopath who had it out for all of us. Cami never should have let her into the alliance."

"Cami shouldn't have done a lot of things, like ditching us for example," I spat.

"You need to calm down," Jordana yawned, "I thought you were the mellow one and I was the one who was supposed to get worked up."

"It's hard to be mellow when you're ready to kill the next moving thing that you see," I replied bitterly.

"What? Are you trying to tell me you're going to hunt everyone down who screwed us over?"

"Maybe," I hissed.

"Good luck with that," Jordana laughed, "Have fun taking on Leith, Cami, Lucian, Valhalla, and Asita. Oh, and we can't forget about those two tributes who freed Jacqie, the one's from five. If they hadn't done then you wouldn't have accidently killed Thomas. Ooh and we should add the girl from six since she led us to Jacqie in the first place. Oh, and-"

"Alright, I get it. I see your point," I barked.

"I'm just saying your being unreasonable. Your goal should be to stay alive. If you become the victor, that meand\s they're all dead. If they're all dead and you're alive, it's a big 'screw you' to them and you got your revenge. Really, don't make a stupid mistake like purposefully seeking out trouble."

"Yeah, you're right," I lied as I began to sort out what we would eat for dinner.

"Of course I am," Jordana replied smugly, "I'm the spitting image of wisdom."

I rolled my eyes and handed her half of the meal.

"Crackers and jerky, my favorite," she said sarcastically.

"The meal of the gods," I agreed.

We quickly consumed our light meal and drank our measured out water.

"We're almost out of food and water," I sighed.

"Then you should stop feeding me," she said matter-of-factly.

"What!" I shouted.

"You're practically throwing your supplies away," she replied casually.

"You're far too nonchalant about dying," I snarled furiously, "This shouldn't be something that you can just joke about!"

"I'm just being realistic," Jordana sighed, "You should try it sometime."

"Stop saying things like that, damn it!" I yelled as I stood up.

There was silence for a few minutes as I paced and Jordana continued to rest her head back against a wall. The eighth floor was nothing special. It seemed to be like some sort of clothing place, which was definitely odd. We had gone through several rooms so far, and most of them seemed to be filled with flashy, old-fashioned dresses of all different sizes. There was also a room with suits and types of men clothing, all old-fashioned. It was quite odd in my opinion.

"I'm not trying to upset you. I'm just trying to make sure you don't run yourself ragged over this. If I can't win, I want it to be you," Jordana whispered into the silence.

I stopped pacing and looked at her. She looked at peace. She seemed resigned to death and was waiting for it to come. It was beautiful and infuriating at the same time. I wanted her to keep fighting to live, but at the same time she had finally found the peace she had been searching for her entire life. It was heart wrenching.

"How are you so at peace?" I finally asked.

She smiled and opened her eyes, "There are two reasons."

"What are they?"

"One, I've been fighting my entire life. Not just physically fighting, but mentally and emotionally. I've fought with my family. I've fought with others in my district. I've fought against bullies. I've fought against racists. I've fought and fought and now, I don't have to anymore. The whole reason I wanted to win these games was to be a victor. If I was a victor like my brother, I wouldn't have to fight for respect anymore. I wouldn't ever have to fight again. Now that I'm dying, though, I've realized that by losing this game I don't have to fight anymore either. It's much more morbid then being a victor, but it's still true. I can finally stop fighting for the first time in my life."

I felt a large lump in my throat and whispered, "And the second reason."

Her smile stretched even farther as she replied, "The second is because, in the end, you chose me."

I felt my eyes begin to sting slightly and my breathing was slightly hitched.

Before I could reply, we were interrupted by the Capitol's anthem. I wanted to finish this conversation, but I was extremely curious about who had died. We had heard a cannon around noon today and then another one several hours ago.

The first face to pop up was the boy from District Eight. I was shocked, but not because he had died. I had forgotten he was even alive. The next face was the boy from District Thirteen. This one was a genuine surprise since he had trained. I thought he was going to cause some trouble for us later in the games.

The faces left the ceiling and I turned to Jordana to finish our discussion.

Again, we were interrupted by the Head Gamemaker's voice.

"Attention tributes," she sang out, "I have a little surprise for you. All tributes have exactly two days to get out of the underground laboratory."

My jaw dropped as I heard Jordana scream, "What!"

"I know you're all thinking 'Impossible!'," she continued, "but it isn't. Almost all of you are on the eighth floor and you have two days to get above the twelfth floor to the overhead portion of the arena. You just have to pick up the pace."

"I can't believe this," I whispered.

"All tributes that don't make it in the two day time period will be killed," she giggled, "Oh, and I suggest you start moving now. Besides the two day time period, we have a special muttation that we released. If you are too slow… Well… You'll have quite the battle on your hands. By that, I mean that you won't survive. Happy Hunger Games!"

The anthem played her out and Jordana and I stared at each other. The moment that we had was completely shattered and we both began to pack up camp was quickly as possible. Right when we got everything packed, we both heard an inhuman shriek.

"I can't believe the Capitol," I yelled, "This is completely unfair."

"Deal with it," Jordana sighed as we started hustling away, "Life's unfair."

* * *

><p><strong>Eulogies:<strong>

**Alexei: You were the Golden Boy. Literally, I loved you as a character. However, you were also the perfect person to have die in such a fashion. You have to admit, I gave you a pretty epic death.**

**Lyric: You were the survivor. All of the readers were shocked you kept surviving, but the thing they didn't know was that I was too! I was so intent on killing you several times, but I always brought you back for more. You were so normal compared to the other tributes that it was really hard for me to let you go.**

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys, so I'm pretty sure it's been a while since I updated. Life is such a whirlwind of stuff right now that I literally have no sense of time. However, I want to assure you that I love this story and things are <strong>_**definitely**_** picking up now. Deaths will be more frequent, gruesome, and fun! Please drop a review off! They have dropped considerably and it makes me quite sad D: And sadness means less inspiration which means longer time between updates (that's not a threat, that's honestly what happens). So tell me what you think of this chapter!**


	41. Day Eight: Time

**Day Eight: Time**

**District Nine:**

**Ace's POV:**

"You can't run forever," Lucy laughed with a gravelly voice.

I could hear my breath hitch slightly as I crouched behind a metal cage. Ruth gave me a stern and panicky look as I put my fist into my mouth. I couldn't get the image of Lucy devouring Lyric out of my mind. When Lucy pounced through the air towards Lyric, all I could do was stare in horror. As she wrapped her long, talon-like paws around Lyric's entire waist and smashed him against the ground repeatedly, I remember not even being able to breathe. I remember feeling Ruth tugging at me, but I couldn't budge. As Lucy lowered her face towards Lyric, I thought she was speaking to him. It was only when Lucy turned around, her entire skull covered in blood, and I saw Lyric's entire face completely gone, that I let out a scream.

Ever since, Lucy has been hunting Ruth and me. We thought we lost her when we found the tiny entrance to the ninth floor, but she managed to find us within the hour. Her muttation senses were heightened. She seemed to be able to hear the slightest of movements and smallest of sounds. Which is why it was vital for us to keep silent, and why it was disastrous of me to be having a complete and utter panic attack.

"Just accept your death. I promise I'll make it quick. I have other prey to find."

I could hear her stalking around the darkened room. When we entered this large room, which appeared to be some sort of holding area for living things, Ruth brilliantly began to destroy as many lights as she could before Lucy forced her way into the room. We found out during the night when we slipped by her that her sense of sight was not heightened and, in fact, seemed to be hindered significantly by the lack of light.

Ruth made a quick nod towards the place we entered and pointed in two opposite directions. I nodded and peered over the metal cage. Lucy was creepily crawling around, knocking aside different containers every now and then. Ruth went around the right side of the cage and I began to make my way around the left side.

It was an awful idea to look at Lucy because once I started I couldn't stop. I tried to quell the fear and panic in my heart but it just kept building. The image of Lucy killing Lyric just kept replaying in my head, over and over again. I knew I was a traitor. I knew I didn't deserve any pity. I knew I had no right to feel sadness and guilt over Lyric's death, yet here I was wallowing in it as his killer was attempting to murder me as well.

Lucy's head snapped up and I ducked under a metal table.

"What was that I heard?" Lucy chuckled darkly as she began to move faster. I felt my breath hitch again and I quickly put my fist back in my mouth. I didn't know if she was trying to psych me out or if she actually heard Ruth or me. All I knew was that she was moving somewhere and _fast_.

Suddenly, I heard Ruth let out a grunt and Lucy hissed. I scrambled out from underneath the table and found the commotion. Ruth was using her double sided sword to fight off Lucy's claws. Ruth seemed to have the upper hand as I could see a long, red gash along Lucy's back.

I grabbed a throwing knife out and the image of Lyric popped back into my head again. It invoked two conflicting feelings. The first was terror and it told me to run before that happened to me. The second was guilt and it told me to fight because that would be Ruth if I didn't stay by her side.

Ruth and I didn't get along at all and I wasn't opposed to her dying, yet I felt as if I owed it to Lyric to protect her. To make up for leaving him. Because, in the end, he was the only one who wanted me. During training, it was just me and him. No one else thought I was of any value. Then, I left him within the first day because he offended me. He didn't try to kill me or betray me in any way, he just _offended_ me. I felt nauseous thinking about it.

So as I let my throwing knife go, I didn't think of Lucy or Ruth or even dying. I just thought of Lyric, the only _friend_ I betrayed. The friend who, minutes before he died, I threw knives at and injured. The friend who I ended up killing, even if Lucy did the dirty work for me.

The knife hit Lucy in the shoulder and she simply kept attacking, as if it was a simple bug bite. I began to charge towards Lucy, my second knife already out.

Lucy quickly spun around and smiled at me, "You should have run."

She leapt at me with startling speed and I felt my panic hit the ceiling. I let out a scream and fell to the ground as fast as I could. Lucy sailed right over me and I scrambled towards Ruth.

"I'm surprised you didn't," Ruth said to me in response to Lucy.

I shrugged and gripped my knife harder as I saw Lucy begin to turn back around, "I wouldn't be a good ally if I left at the first sign of danger, right?"

"I never thought you were a good one."

Before I could reply, Lucy began bounding towards us. I threw my knife at her skull, but she sidestepped it easily. Ruth leapt at Lucy, bringing her sword down into one of her hands. Lucy let out a hiss and swatted Ruth away with her other hand. Ruth flew through the air and hit the wall twenty feet away.

I threw another knife and hit Lucy in the shoulder. This time she did react to it and glared at me in a way that practically paralyzed me. However, I could see that the sword was still stuck in Lucy's large hand and I knew we needed it. My throwing knives could barely slow Lucy down. I knew that without that sword we had no defense.

I took several steps forward and reached for the sword. Lucy made a swipe for me, but I rolled under it and wrapped my hands around the sword. I yanked it out and tried to thrust it into Lucy's skull. She leapt backwards gracefully and hissed at me.

I looked for Ruth and saw her climbing on top of crates and cages. Lucy saw my gaze, but before she could look I rushed her. I made several jabs with the sword but they did nothing but distract her. During training, I had no talent with any heavy weaponry and it showed right now. To the Capitol, I probably looked like a small child swinging a stick instead of a tribute fighting for their life.

Lucy let out a deep laugh and smiled, "Like I said, you should have run. That's all you can do."

Lucy crouched down and I knew she was going in for the kill. I made one last desperate swing as she pounced above me to a swinging light. Before I could react, she dropped from it and landed right on top of me.

I screamed again and began to flail. Her talons were beginning to wrap around my arms and I knew I was a goner.

Suddenly, I heard a loud crash and Lucy let go and turned towards the sound of the noise.

Another crash.

Another one.

Ruth smiled down at Lucy and me and said, "Good night."

Before anything else could be done, Ruth smashed last light in the room and everything went pitch black.

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Leith's POV:**

"This is ridiculous," I muttered to myself as I wandered around the eleventh floor.

When the Head Gamemaker told us we had to get above ground in the next two days, I couldn't care less. My goal for days had been to get above ground as fast as I could so I was ahead of the game. However, I've now been on this stupid floor for two days and I still couldn't find my way out. It was some sort of storage unit, which wasn't surprising since that was what the past few floors had been. The ninth floor was filled with large cages that contained nothing and the tenth floor had smaller cages that actually had a variety of animals in them. This floor was brimming with containers filled with different foods and fruits, that I assumed were harvested from the seventh floor.

I sat down and began to rummage through my bag. I wasn't in need of supplies before I made it to this floor and I certainly wasn't now. In every room you could find some sort of fruit, vegetable, or grain. I'm assuming that the Gamemakers thought that if you made it this far they don't want you starving to death.

I gripped my harpoon and thought of all the other ways us tribute could die. Muttations, battle, betrayal, traps…

Starving to death would just be too peaceful, right?

In all honesty, I didn't care anymore. I didn't' volunteer for the fame, glory, or money. I volunteered because I wanted to feel the _rush_. I wanted the adrenaline pulsing through my veins because I knew I could die any second. I wanted to feel _something_, maybe even pain, but now I was just as empty as ever.

Sure, after Valhalla killed Oceana I wanted to disembowel her and chop her head off. Yeah, for a few days after Oceana's death I felt a deep sadness and I just wanted to cry, even though I couldn't.

But now?

For my entire life I have never been good at 'feeling' as weird as that sounds. I just couldn't seem to hold on to anger or grief. I went through the emotion and then it slipped away, leaving me empty. I mean, of course I still miss Oceana and I want to rip Valhalla to shreds, but I don't have the emotional drive to obsess over it. I can't just stalk around the arena for days on end until I find my prey. I don't have the patience for it.

Even as a kid, I had no patience. My father was a fisherman (shocker, I know) and he would sometimes take me out fishing with him. While he could spend the entire day sitting in the boat, rod in hand, I would get restless. I was always a quiet kid, but sitting around waiting always drove me crazy. I didn't want to wait for the fish to bite. I either wanted it to happen right away or not at all. When it came to waiting, I just couldn't do it. I'd give up before I'd wait around all day for a stupid fish to bite.

That's part of the reason I took up training. When I trained, I didn't have to wait or feel or worry. I went in when I was told and left when I was done. I got results in a reasonable amount of time and I didn't have to wait for anyone else to do anything. I guess when it comes down to it, I just don't like depending on other people to do things. Like depending on Valhalla to make a stupid mistake so I can find her and kill her. It just ends up being a waste of time. At least, that's what I always thought when we came home with only enough fish for one meal when we spent three meals out at sea.

I shook my head and began to stand up. I was wasting my time sitting here _thinking_ about how much I hated wasting time. I needed to find the way up to the next floor and I needed to find it _now_. I took a look down another long hallway and sighed. I really just wanted this game to end. The sad thing was I didn't care whether that meant me winning or dying. What did I have to go home to? A family who I wasn't close to and only loved me because I was related. Friends who ended up screwing me over. Training buddies who would be just as excited by my death as by my victory. In all honesty, I had nothing to look forward to except a big, empty house where I would spend the rest of my life wasting away.

What a waste of time.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Winnifred's POV:**

"Come on, Winnie," I murmured to myself.

"Could you hurry it up!" Admyer yelled as he held himself against a door.

"I'm going as fast as I can," I replied as I continued to think through the equation that was written across the monitor.

"Take your sweet time," Admyer barked, "It's not like there's a hoard of mutts trying to break down the door and tear us limb from limb."

"Oh you're right," I snapped back uncharacteristically, "I'll just take a chance on getting this equation wrong. All that will happen is that the tank that the fluid is compressed in will explode and melt our flesh off!"

"Just stop dilly dallying!"

I let out a puff of air and kept crunching the numbers in my head. Right now we were trying to gain access to the tenth floor. The only thing standing between us and the elevator was a giant, metal hatch. Of course, it was locked and the only way to open it was to move the fluid that was keeping the lock in place to another tank. To do that we had to exchange the fluid with another liquid, but if the exchange rate wasn't at the right speed the fluids would react to each other. This would cause a malfunction, effectively locking the door forever; all the while the acidic fluid would burst onto Admyer and me.

As if the stress of that wasn't enough, the Gamemakers decided it would be fun to have large mutts that looked like they came out of the pit of hell scratching at the door we entered.

"Winnifred," Admyer grunted.

I continued to think it through, did one more mental test of run of the equation in my head, and began to type it into the console. I let my fingers fly across the keys and checked the equation as I went.

It was now or never.

I hit the enter button and watched as the glowing liquid began to drain from the tank on the left. The clear liquid on the right drained as well, but a much slower rate. I chewed at my fingernail, my heart beginning to beat faster. The glowing liquid began to pool in the bottom of the tank on the right, mixing slightly with the clear fluid.

I heard a loud, high pitched siren and immediately began to work on the console. The exchange rate was fast enough, but the tank on the right had a higher storage capacity. That meant the excess clear fluid had to go somewhere, and it had to go there _now_.

I quickly began to reroute the path of the clear liquid and attempted to send it into the emergency water supply that was connected to the fire alarm. 'Full' flashed across the screen and I let out a curse word under my breath.

"I can't hold it!" Admyer yelled.

Without thinking it through, I dove to my backpack and brought out matches. I scrambled on top of the nearest table and lit the match. I held it up to the ceiling, knowing heat sensors lined it, and within seconds two sirens were going off. This new siren had a deeper pitch, but it lasted longer. Suddenly, devices appeared out of the ceiling and water began to cascade down onto us.

I heard the door crash open and I threw myself back to the console. I quickly retyped my directions and they were accepted. The high pitched siren went silent, but no relief swept over me.

I swung my supplies over my shoulders and knocked an arrow in my bow and I spun around. A mutt was on top of Admyer and I quickly sent an arrow flying through its skull.

Admyer looked at me, shocked, and I yelled, "Open the door and get into the elevator _now_!"

He scrambled to his feet and I let another arrow fly towards a mutt that was getting ready to pounce. It sank the floor, lifeless, and I readied another shot. I fired a few more arrows as I head the door behind me open and I spun around.

I ran into the elevator and quickly began to shut the metal door with Admyer's help.

Right before we got it completely closed, a large mass collided with the door and knocked me to the floor. I threw myself against the bottom portion of it and pushed with all the strength I could.

Suddenly, my hand began to burn and I let out a hiss. In the next few seconds, my hand began to burn worse, but I could hear the cries and howls of the mutts.

"Get the lock," I ordered as I held the door completely shut.

I could hear the heavy, manual lock fall into place and I ceased pushing. I scooted away from the door and held my hand between my legs. It felt like I was holding my hand very closely under a bright light. I could feel the flesh slowly cooking and burning.

"What's wrong?" Admyer immediately asked as the elevator began to move.

"Just get me some water and bandages," I whimpered.

He rummaged through our bags and set them down next to me. I slowly moved my hand out from between my legs and glanced at it from the corner of my eye.

I felt a wave of nausea swoop over me and I turned my head far away from my hand.

"Dear god, what happened?" Admyer asked as he knelt down beside me.

"I rerouted the acid into the water supply so the tanks didn't overflow and cause the system to overload."

"That was actually a fairly smart idea, killing those mutts and all."

"No, that was just a happy accident," I hissed as Admyer began to apply water and pressure to my hand.

In the next few minutes, Admyer soaked, cleansed, and wrapped my hand. The entire time I was cringing and attempting not to look at it.

"Sorry, I can't really do it myself."

"It's fine," he shrugged, "I worked in a meat shop, remember? I used to dealing with flesh."

"Yeah, dead animals."

"We live in district five. Let's just say a good portion of the meat we could get was old, unclean, and damaged. This is nothing, gross factor wise, compared to that."

"I can handle injuries on other people," I sighed, "Just whenever I see one on myself I feel sick. I think it has something to do with not only seeing it but feeling the pain as well. I don't know I just don't handle it very well."

Admyer nodded and we went back to silence.

The elevator was quite slow so I decided to count my arrows and readjust my quiver.

"You were amazing back there," Admyer said, slightly in awe.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just mean I've never seen that side of you. Usually you tend to panic and flip out. Back there, you were a machine. Typing away one minute, firing arrows the next. I've never seen you aim with that much accuracy."

"Well, back there, I could handle it," I shrugged, "I knew exactly what to do. I had to figure out the equation and get us out of there alive. I also knew the type of environment we were in and I knew that they always have a fire safety system in small labs. It was just another step in solving the equation to me."

"Yeah but the arrows…"

"I can handle killing some Capitol-made mutts," I snapped, "It's the actual, real people I can't quite handle"

"And even that," Admyer exclaimed, "You never talk like that!"

"I'm a fifteen year old girl; of course I know how to be sassy!" I ranted, "Maybe I'm just trying a new approach to life."

Before he could open his mouth and say some other smart aleck remark, I continued, "I guess I'm just tired of attempting to be myself in the arena. It's hard enough to stay optimistic and nice when you are surrounded by people who think you're a weirdo. It's near impossible to do it when you're in an unfamiliar place that has people whose sole goal and purpose is to kill you."

I looked at Admyer and saw he was taking in what I said.

"I suppose that makes sense."

"You suppose?"

"Well, it makes sense to adapt to your surroundings. It's natural. However, you're starting to talk like me and we both know we shouldn't have two of me running around this arena… Especially when your attitude, although it is constantly annoying, has kept me going when I just want to give up."

My jaw dropped and I felt surprise color my cheeks, "Do you mean that?"

"I said it, didn't I?" Admyer snapped, "Listen, I don't want you going all 'sentimental' on me. I'm just saying you've been a good encouragement. I think if we both have this pessimistic attitude that we'll drive each other into the ground, so keep it up."

The elevator jolted to a halt and we both stood up, readying our supplies.

"But you could keep that good aim. It was nice that you were an asset in a fight for the first time ever."

I smiled at his insult, feeling slightly upbeat again. For the first time, Admyer and I broke a barrier. It was one barrier out of the many that were between us, but it was one of our biggest. I felt my smile widen slightly as I realized this alliance was _something_. It wasn't a waste of time.

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine:<strong>

**Hawk's POV:**

I could hear the pounding of their feet as they stomped past the cabinet I was in.

"I know I saw him go in here!"

"Lucian, we're wasting time! We need to get out of here."

"I'm not going to let any tributes escape just because we're a little short on time," he hissed frighteningly close to where I was hiding.

"Killing him won't matter if we die because we can't get out of here in time!" Cami screeched.

"We hav-"

"We're on the ninth floor and we only have a day and a half left to get out of the twelfth floor. That does _not_ leave plenty of time for you to go around playing your little games. We are not wasting time hunting down an inferior tribute just so you can spend _more_ time cutting him open like a fish."

"But Cami," Lucian whined in a child-like way.

"I'm leaving _now_, with or without you," Cami hissed as she walked away.

After a few seconds I heard Lucian let out a frustrated grunt and I could hear him kicking the wall. His footsteps began to fade away and I let out a sigh of relief. I waited a couple of minutes before I slowly eased the cabinet door open and tumbled out.

In a normal situation, I might have tried to take them on from a hidden spot, but I couldn't risk getting injured and not having the ability to get out of this place. I grappled in my bag and felt around for the last of my food. I was running dangerously low on supplies and I just had to hope that there was a place to replenish in the above ground portion of this arena.

"What do we have here?" I heard someone chuckle as I felt a cold blade at the back of my neck.

I tumbled forward, jumped to my feet and spun around. I made a grab for one of my throwing knives and held it out in front of me, threateningly.

"Someone's a little jumpy," the girl giggled, "Put that down. If I wanted to kill you, I would have slit your throat open instead of initiating a conversation."

My grip on my knife tightened in response.

"Yeah, while you held me at knife point."

"It's the Hunger Games," she laughed, "Can't be too careful."

I eyed her over and racked my brain, attempting to place her name. It had been over a week since I'd seen most of the tributes so I found myself finding a hard time remembering anyone who wasn't a Care-

A cold feeling of dread shot through my body.

"What do you want, Asita?"

She smiled at me and I went through the different scenarios in my head. Apollo could be hiding around, waiting to kill me. She could have betrayed the Careers so that she was better off. She could have…

"I'm flattered you remember my name, although I can't really say the same."

"It's hard to forget someone who managed to manipulate their way into the Careers by banging one of them," I replied coldly.

All act of friendliness left her expression and she hissed, "Listen, I watched you during training. You can fight, you're fast, and you're smart. I need you to 'escort' me out of this hell hole."

"You want me-"

"I can see you're in dire need of food and water," she reasoned, "and what do you know, I have plenty of that. I need someone smart who can figure out how to get out of here and a little bit of insurance that I won't be brutally murdered by the crazed tributes that are running around this arena like chickens with their heads cut off."

"So you want to form an alliance, "I said suspiciously.

"No I want to do a trade. You can have a good chunk of my supplies as long as you get me out of here in one piece."

"Why don't I just take them from you now?" I threatened.

Asita laughed, "Go ahead and try."

I swiftly took a step forward and plunged my knife towards her stomach. She flawlessly side-stepped my jab and grabbed my wrist. She twisted it at such an angle that I was forced to drop the knife. I let out a grunt in pain and pulled my arm back.

She let go and growled, "I've spent my time on the streets just like you, if how you carry yourself says anything about you. I may not be able to fight very well, but I've spent enough time dealing with low lives and scum that I can defend myself just fine. However, defense won't really help me kill any of the remaining tributes, which is why I need you."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" I asked.

"You watched me during training. Am I sitting here trying to seduce you? Am I acting weak or fragile? Am I trying to manipulate you? No, I'm offering you supplies that you can see right here in front of you in exchange for protection until we get out of here. It's a simple offer that I think can benefit us both greatly."

I bit my cheek and looked away. I began to think of Ace. I saved her _life_ and she ended up betraying me. What would stop Asita from slitting my throat in the middle of night?

"You can say no if you want," she interrupted impatiently, "but I know you won't."

Asita needed me. This wasn't an alliance based on trust. She needed me to get out of here just like I needed what she had to keep me alive.

"Fine," I said, "deal."

I began to walk towards the supplies and she shook her head, "No, I'll carry my supplies and you can carry what you have now. I'd rather not have you running off with all my stuff."

"Suit yourself, I was trying to help," I shrugged.

"Sure, that's what they all say before they swindle you out of your stuff."

We began to walk towards the nearest exit and I stated, "By the way, my name is-"

"I honestly don't care," Asita interrupted curtly as she marched on ahead.

Dear god… Please let the time just fly by if _this_ is what I have to deal with for the next couple of days…

* * *

><p><strong>Mentor's POV:<strong>

**District Five:**

**Memory's POV:**

"Oh God!" I heard Lorie screech, "Why the hell are you back in here!"

I turned from the monitors to see Rouge walk into the room. She brushed past Lorie without glancing at her for a second.

"God, I just can't fucking believe it. She should be in a padded room with a straight jacket on," Lorie jabbed.

Lorie continued to mutter insults to herself as she checked the scratches on her face with her compact. I rolled my eyes and attempted to mentally 'mute' all sounds coming from her body. All I know is that if I were Rouge, Lorie wouldn't have gotten away with just a couple of scratches and some hair missing. Her entire _head_ would no longer be fully attached to her body.

I began to go through the different tributes since nighttime was upon them. Most were settling down for the night, which would end up only being a couple hours since they needed to keep up the pace.

The tribute farthest ahead was Leith, albeit he had been stuck on the eleventh floor for a couple of days. In his defense, though, the eleventh floor was gigantic and only had two ways to get to the twelfth floor. However, Winnifred and Admyer were catching up. They were drawing closer to one of the entrances to the eleventh floor and both seemed to be in good health except for some injuries. I was just relieved that they both were still alive and seemed to be sticking together for the long haul now.

Adam and Charlotte were doing fine, resting on the tenth floor. They were just talking, nothing interesting, so I switched my attention to the new unlikely pair. Asita and Hawk were making time, not stopping for a moment. Although they were cold, distant, and mean to each other, they seemed to work fairly well together. They were both bright and quick thinkers and had managed to get to the tenth floor in record pace once they teamed up. It seemed that Hawk definitely had a good memory for places they had already been, but Asita managed to pick up on the little details Hawk couldn't seem to see. Hopefully, they don't run themselves into the ground as the night progresses on.

Ruth and Ace were both conked out on the tenth floor. After Ruth's stunt with the lights, Lucy was completely blind. They managed to sneak out of there without alerting her and made it to safety. I was slightly happy for them just because they had had a rough couple of days.

Speaking of Lucy, she was currently chasing Cami and Lucian and I certainly had no pity for them. Cami _said_ she wanted to hurry up and get out of there. At least both she and Lucian had something motivating them to get a move on.

I still hoped that Lucy would eat Lucian's face off though.

Valhalla was wandering around the tenth floor, not seemingly doing anything. After her big move with the Careers, she seemed to have toned it down. I couldn't tell if she was purposefully trying to stay off the radar or if she just didn't want to do anything at this point in the game. Whether she was trying to steer clear of the Careers or waiting for the dangers of the arena to take care of some of the tributes, she was doing perfectly fine on her own.

Jordana and Apollo were still attempting to find their way to the tenth floor. Jordana was heavily slowing them down. I could tell she wasn't going to make it with that bad of a wound and no medical attention. It was probably already infected and the medicine to heal it would cost a small fortune this late in the game. Still, she seemed to have enough energy to keep fighting.

I let out a small sigh and put my head in my hands.

"Feeling okay?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, I'm just getting a bit of a headache thinking about all of these tributes."

"They certainly are an interesting bunch this year."

I sighed, "I'm just trying to figure out how Winnifred and Admyer are going to get out of this alive. Almost all of the Careers are still active and there are two sociopaths in there ready to kill."

"I wouldn't call Lucian a sociopath."

"Psychopath, whatever."

"Stop worrying about it," Felix ordered as he rubbed my back.

"I can't."

"Yes you can."

I just shook my head and tried to clear my head of all its thoughts. I didn't even know why I was getting worked up all of the sudden. It had to be because I had no idea if Winnifred and Admyer would get out of there in time. Sure, they were far ahead but they could run into the same problem as Leith. Oh, and even if they did get out of there they still had to deal with what the Gamemakers had in store for them in the house. Then you just add the other tributes into the mix…

"If it makes you feel better, you still have plenty of time to worry about them."

I looked up at the screens and eyed all of the tributes.

"That also means there's still time for them to die."

**So I know it's been awhile. Like I said, I'm not giving up on this story. So I'm going to give all of you a bit of an update. No, I'm still not moved and my house is not sold. This means that I'm spending a large chunk of my time helping keep the house up and showing it off to potential buyers since my dad is in another state. **

**However, I do hope to be more active. Another reason I still hadn't updated until now was because someone very smart and compassionate told me to not 'force it' and if I did that it just wouldn't come out right. And they were completely right. I had half a chapter written awhile back, after I posted my note. I read through it and it was pure and utter crap. Nothing happened plot wise, it was boring, and the characters were completely out of character. **

**Anyways, I am ready to write now and I do feel the urge to. This chapter took me awhile to write, but I really hope you will tell me what you think and continue to give me the love and encouragement you have all shown me every time I show back up on this site. Thank you all for being so supportive and loving!**


	42. Day Nine: Animals

**Day Nine: Animals**

**Mentor's POV:**

**District Four:**

**Ethan's POV:**

Chaos.

That was the only word that could describe what was going on in the arena. Pipes were bursting, fires were breaking out, and explosions were rattling the tribute's surroundings. Not only was the unstoppable muttation 'Lucy' chasing tributes but the Gamemakers unleashed a flood of other mutts.

Cami's loud screech shot out of the speakers as a fire muttation leapt at her. I watched as Lucian grabbed Cami and pulled her out of the way. Another scream rang out from somewhere but I tried to focus on the task on hand.

"How much money do we have left for Leith?" I asked.

Crescent, who was on the phone with a potential sponsor, shook her head with a solemn face. I groaned and slammed my fist down on the computer console. We were so close to affording a piece of much needed armor for Leith. We only needed a little bit more money…

The Control Room was no quieter than the arena. I could hear every mentor talking; whether it is to each other, their escorts, or potential sponsors. Everyone was trying to do something for their tributes in this chaos.

I knew it was around noon and that I should eat lunch but I couldn't tear myself away… No one could. I glanced at the different screens and saw that every single tribute was running. Every one of them was dealing with a life or death situation.

"Ahem," I heard vibrate through the speakers. Shocked, I glanced towards the upper floor and saw Lavender staring down at us. She had a sweet, almost innocent looking, smile spread across her face.

The Gamemakers _rarely_ talked to the mentors during the actual Hunger Games. The silence across the entire Control Room was eerie. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

"If you'd take a look at the screen at your stations, there is something I'd like to show you."

"This is bad," Crescent whispered.

I nodded in agreement as a schematic came across our monitors.

"As you know, the tributes have been making record time. This is partly because of their… _determination_ and our influence," Lavender began, "This entire underground portion was meant to weed out the weaker tributes. Sadly, over half are left and it's the ninth day, which means we have to intervene."

The feelings Lavender invoked in me whenever she spoke caused some of the most unpleasant experiences of my entire existence.

'Don't feel downhearted; this is a cause for congratulations! This speaks volumes for your mentoring skills and what you taught your tributes! However, the Capitol's entertainment comes first because they are paying for this event."

Pure hatred and nausea swept through my body. They "came first for _paying_ for this event"! What about the people who _die_ every year because of this.

"The schematic on your screen is of the twelfth floor. As you can see this is the boiler room."

The plans were zoomed in towards a very large room.

"Earlier today we sent in a construction crew for some last minute changes. They sealed off large portions of the floor and widened different areas. The large room you currently see is the area right before the entrance to the above ground portion of the arena."

The map zoomed back out and two spots began blinking.

"The two ways up to the twelfth floor have been rerouted so that they conjoin at one point. This point then leads to the large area you just saw. Now, if you will look back up to the main monitors."

I looked up and saw almost all of the tributes still running for their lives. "As you can see, all of the tributes are being chased except for one. District Three's Valhalla has managed to find her way up to the twelfth floor and will most likely be out of the underground portion of the arena in minutes."

I nodded, still confused what this had to do with 'intervening'.

"Another thing you have been noticing today is that the tributes have been going where we want them to. If they tried to go down a hallway we didn't want them to, we just caused some minor complications for them."

Lavender let out a small giggle and then continued, "We've calculated their paths and made it so that they will all reach the twelfth floor at the same time. Instead of letting them all get to the above ground portion of the arena, we will collapse the path behind them and start a timer. The time on this timer will be known to no one except the Gamemakers. However, while the timer is going, the gate between the above ground and underground portion of the arena will begin to close."

Without missing a beat, she hissed, "This will cause them to panic and incite a second bloodbath, especially since our dear Lucy will be in there with them!"

So many emotions were rolling through my body that I couldn't even _feel_ anymore.

"We're just letting you know to avoid any confusion and to give you amble time to sponsor your lovely tributes. May the strongest survive! Thank you for your time!"

The microphone cut off and the windows to the Gamemaker's room tinted back to their usual pitch black.

The silence stretched longer, only interrupted by the noises coming from the arena.

"I need some air," Crescent said quietly as she stood up and made her way out of the room. Others, such as Memory and Ophelia, got up and left as well. I could see Agatha putting her head down on her console and Streak began pacing. Even Lorie made a noise of disgust before she stomped out of the room.

I glanced over at Copper, watching him get up and walk towards Agatha, and noticed Rouge staring straight ahead.

"You okay?" I asked as I began to walk towards her.

"Of course," she replied swiftly, "This doesn't change anything. There is nothing I, or really anybody else, can sponsor their tributes with. Plus, as much as I loathe Camilla, I know she can handle herself. She'll be fine, especially with Lucian by her side."

I nodded in agreement, "I can handle this turn of events and it's the Hunger Games after all… But I just can't believe how Lavender talked to us… It makes me sick."

"Why does it surprise you?" Rouge asked.

"It was just demeaning… as if-"

"We're cattle to them, Ethan," Rouge interrupted, "Our feelings mean nothing."

"How can you just accept that so calmly?"

"This isn't the first time I've experienced it," she replied softly, "Ask Crescent… I bet she'll feel the same way I do… Like an animal."

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

"Get out of my way!" the girl from District Twelve yelled as she shoved past me.

I threw most of my weight into my shoulder and slammed her against the wall as we emerged onto the twelfth floor.

"Bitch!" she screeched as she reached for her sword. I continued to run but I saw her glance at the mutts behind us. Fear colored her face and she began to run behind us again.

"It's slowing you down, you need to drop it," Adam yelled.

I glanced down at the metal ball I held and shook my head. It was one of the secret items. I still had no idea what it did, but I wasn't letting it go without a fight. This could save my life later in the arena.

"You nev-"

A shriek felt like it was breaking my ear drums as Winnifred bolted past me. She ducked as a large spike flew over her head, almost killing her.

"You okay?" I heard her district partner yell and I could see her nod.

Right now, there was no time for fighting. Any second we spent attempting to kill anyone else was a second we might need to escape. Plus, there was the likelihood of a fight either from them or someone that was in their alliance. We couldn't afford that right now.

"I can't keep this up," I heard Jordana pant.

"I'm not just letting you go so you can be devoured by mutts. You're getting out of here," Apollo shouted.

Whether it was the special item dragging me down or the words spurring them on, Apollo and Jordana managed to pass both Adam and me.

Another ear piercing shriek sounded in the distance and I tried to push myself harder.

"Give me that thing," Adam barked.

I shook my head and he yelled, "I won't drop it out of spite, I promise."

I rolled my eyes, not really trusting him, but handed it over. The weight disappearing felt like an oasis in a desert and my speed picked up noticeably.

"Come on!" I could hear the District Nine girl yell to her ally.

"I'm trying," she huffed.

The ear piercing shriek rang out again, much closer, and suddenly our corridor joined with another. Now next to us were the rest of the tributes. Leith had a determined look on his face as he kept a steady pace and Cami was next to him, panting heavily. Lucian was near the back struggling to keep up and Asita was desperately running right behind the boy from nine.

"I can't keep this up," Asita screeched, ironically saying the same thing Jordana had yelled out minutes before. A loud laughter resonated behind us and I glanced to see a giant mutt charging towards us.

I heard a growl of the human variety and looked ahead to see Apollo staring right at Asita.

"I'm going to kill her," he uttered so quietly that I knew Jordana and I were the only ones to hear it.

"Not now," Jordana hissed.

"Watch me."

Apollo yanked out a knife and threw it ahead at Asita. It whizzed right past her lower back. She looked behind and saw Apollo. Her face paled even more as Apollo pulled out another knife.

"Hawk, just go without me," I heard her scream as another knife sailed past her, this time extremely off target.

The boy from nine, Hawk, looked to his left to see Apollo readying another knife while Jordana tried to grab it from him.

"You're going to get yourself killed," Jordana barked at the same time Hawk shouted, "And miss out on my end of the deal, hell no!"

Right as one more knife flew towards Asita; Hawk grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. With surprising grace and strength, he pulled her arms around his neck and grabbed one of her legs. Within seconds he had her other leg and was carrying her.

We entered into a large space filled with boilers, pipes, and coal. Steam was rising all around us and the heat was almost unbearable. At the far end of the room, I could see a large archway that led to a stairway with countless steps.

Suddenly, Hawk and Asita raced ahead of the entire pack. Two loud noises met my ears. One was a mixture between a roar and cackle while the other was that of an explosion.

A gigantic figure leapt overhead and landed in front of us. I immediately tried to stop but the momentum kept me going. I stumbled into Apollo and tripped over Leith; bring all three of us to the ground. I looked up and saw that everyone had stopped except for Hawk, who was still running towards the mutt.

While the mutt began to twirl around, Hawk ducked under its gut and weaved between its legs. The mutt looked completely shocked and continued to spin. By the time it got back to facing the archway, Hawk and Asita were out from underneath it and were making their way to the staircase. The mutt let out a roar and jumped towards them.

Its talons raked into Hawk's legs, but he managed not to fall and kept running. He began his way up the staircase and the mutt let out another angry roar.

Then it turned around and set its sights on us.

A smile spread across its face, showing an array of sharpened teeth.

"It looks like you're all trapped," it laughed. I pushed myself to my feet and looked behind us. The way we came was completely blocked off by a pile of rocks, bricks, and pipes. Then, a loud, grinding noise broke out and I turned back towards the mutt. The large archway that led out of here had a metal door beginning to slowly make its way down.

They were going to lock us down here with this muttation.

"Tick tock," it purred.

It began to pace by the door, looking at us like a cat would watch a group of mice.

It seemed the situation actually hit us all at once and we began to scramble away from each other. I dove to Adam and we scuffled away from Leith and Apollo. Winnifred and Admyer both backed up considerably and Lucian drew out a weapon. Apollo did the same and the girl from district nine gripped a throwing knife.

All of us were taking sides, moving away from the enemy tributes, except for Cami.

"What are all of you doing?" she snapped.

"Trying to stay alive," the girl from twelve hissed as she drew her sword out.

"Am I the only one here who has a brain?" Cami sighed, more to herself then anybody, "There is a gigantic mutt about fifty feet away, waiting for the order to pounce on us, and all of you think it's a good idea to start killing each other?"

"What else is there to do?" Lucian smiled, staring straight at Winnifred.

Cami raised her hand to her forehead and spoke, "If we don't get past that muttation, all of us are locked down here with it and each other."

"They wouldn't kill all of us," Apollo reasoned.

"Of course they would!" Cami yelled, "There have been games where they cause a flood or volcanic eruption and kill all of the tributes but two or three. Oh and lookie here, there are four of us missing. Two of which we all know the Capitol adores and would have no qualm with being this year's victor."

The mutt began cackling, but stayed put by the doorway.

"We need to work together," Cami said sternly.

For the first time, I realized why Cami had been the leader of the Careers. During training, she seemed like an ordinary district one girl. She appeared to be of average strength, above average intellect, and a complete bitch (pardon my language). But right now, her natural leadership showed through since she seemed to be the only tribute calmly using their head.

"I'm not 'working' with the Careers," the girl from District Twelve hissed.

"Then _die_," Cami growled, "Those who want to get out of this alive, come over here."

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

Cami began walking to a more secluded area surrounded by brass pipes and tanks that would keep her hidden from the mutts view. Jordana, Apollo, and Leith immediately followed behind her. Lucian let out a small whine and shuffled towards her. One by one, the remaining tributes made their way over to that area.

"Come on," I heard the girl from ten sigh as she began to make her way over with the boy from six.

I looked over to my side and yelled out, "Ace!"

Ace looked back at me, but continued walking as she replied, "I'm not dying because you're letting your feelings cloud your judgment."

I looked around and noticed I was the' last one standing', so to speak. I took one look at the mutt, grinning at me, and sighed, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

I stomped over to the area and ducked underneath a pipe.

"Good, everyone came to their senses," Cami smiled, "Now I'm going to go through this quickly because I don't know how much time we have before that gate shuts on us completely. The only way we're going to get past it is if we kill it."

"Her," Ace corrected.

Cami looked completely baffled as she whispered, "What?"

"Her," Ace repeated, "I saw it with my two eyes. That mutt over there is the girl from District Nine, Lucy."

"No!" I heard the girl from five gasp.

"I don't know if she's always been a mutt or if Lucy died in the arena and they replaced her… But it definitely was Lucy that transformed into that _thing_"

"That can't be right," Adam from District Six growled.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Ace snapped.

"After all you-"

"Now is not the time to argue, children," Cami interrupted with a hint of irritation in her voice, "Although that is an interesting piece of information, true or not, that changes nothing. We still need to kill it. The only reason it stopped hunting Asita and the boy from District Nine was because we were all still over on this side. Even if most of us get past it unscathed, that doesn't stop the problem of it chasing us down."

"We could just wait until it can't fit under the gate," Apollo spoke.

"Brilliant idea. Let's sit around, maybe get to know each other, and wait for the door to be almost closed before we make our move," Cami replied sarcastically, "No, we need to take it down and to do that we need everyone here to cooperate."

"This is certainly a turn of events that I bet no one expected," Jordana laughed as she gripped her abdominal region.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Cami quoted.

"So let's hear this miraculous plan," Leith ordered.

"Fine," Cami eyed dirtily, "I need everyone to break up into three groups: ranged weapons, melee weapons, or both."

I gave a quick nod to Ace before I stepped over to the side Cami pointed for melee weapons.

In the end, it split up pretty evenly. The only people in the 'both' group were Jordana and Leith.

"Good, good," Cami nodded, "Now I'm going to split us up into three teams. One will be completely ranged, one will be completely melee, and one will be a mixture of both. The mixture team will be the first to go out. They will serve to distract the mutt. Throw a few weapons, make some noise_, and just get its attention_!"

She pointed to Apollo, "You and I will lead the mixture team. I want the girl from ten, the one who uses the rope, to be part of it."

The girl from ten nodded and Cami continued, "Leith, I think you could be useful with that harpoon thing of yours. I also want you, Ruth."

"Fine," I grumbled.

"Then for the ran-"

"No," Apollo barked, "I'm not leaving Jordana's side. She's injured."

"I see that," Cami replied as she rolled her eyes, "but I'm splitting alliances up for the sake of everyone. If we put two allies together, what's stopping them from making a run for it and leaving the rest of us here to die? Like I said, we need everyone to make this work."

"Apollo, it's fine," Jordana said as Apollo began to argue, "I can handle myself."

"Good," Cami continued, "Now that that's settled, I want Jordana to lead the ranged team. This team is vital since they will be out of reach of the mutt's large claws and arms. I want you with the bow and you with the knives to join Jordana."

Ace and the girl from five nodded in agreement, eyeing each other suspiciously.

"The melee team will come out as soon as the ranged team is noticed by the mutt. Their job is to fend the mutt off and protect the ranged team since my team will be on the other side of the room. Lucian, I know you can handle leading this team."

Cami pointed to the boy from five and the boy from six, "I want you two to make up the rest of that team."

"Any questions?" Cami asked.

"Yeah, what exactly is our overall strategy to take this thing down," Jordana piped up.

"Well, I've had to spend a good deal of time already fighting it and running from it," Cami began, "From what I can tell, it can feel almost no pain and the pain it does feel, it likes. This means we need to go for the kill shots and go all out. We have to inflict so many wounds that it can't move. Nothing short of cutting off its limbs or ripping out its heart it will stop it from attacking us."

"So you're telling us to start a dog pile on it!" Leith snapped, shocked.

"Pretty much. Anyone else got a better idea?"

No one responded and Cami nodded, "Then let's move. We don't have much time."

"This is crazy," Leith said as we began to step out of our alcove.

"It's all we got," Apollo sighed.

"See you on the other side," I heard the girl from ten say to her ally.

"You bet your ass you will," he replied fiercely.

I took in a deep breath and took the final step out of the alcove.

"Are you finally coming out to play?" Lucy asked as we came into her sight.

In response, Cami let out a frightening scream and charged straight at her.

When she said we were going to draw her attention to us she wasn't kidding!

Apollo yelled as well and we began to run after Cami. Lucy let out a high-pitched cackle and started to walk towards us. Leith managed to sprint ahead of Cami and threw his spear towards Lucy. She dodged it easily and Leith brought his spear back by yanking on the chain attached to it.

Cami began to veer to the left and we all followed.

Lucy raised her arm and quick as lightening the girl from ten shot her rope forward. It smoothly went over her hand and down towards her wrist area. The girl pulled and tightened the rope. Lucy let out a squeal of delight and pulled her arm back even farther. The girl let out a screech as she began to slip but Apollo wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her to the ground.

"Go!" Cami yelled.

Cami, Leith and I charged forward and a look of anger crossed Lucy's face for the first time. Lucy used her other hand to swat at Cami and she went flying to the ground. I attempted to counter-strike by jabbing my sword into her arm but Lucy simply brought her hand down onto me. A stinging sensation went through my skull and I fell to the ground as well.

I looked up and noticed why Leith got a ten in training. He was easily evading Lucy's attacks and heavily harassing her by throwing his spear and yanking it back with two fluid motions. The spear seemed to puncture Lucy quite often, but appeared to be nothing more than a nuisance to her.

Suddenly, Lucy began to slip to the ground and I struggled to my feet.

"A little help here!" Cami yelled.

I grabbed the rope that Cami, Apollo, and the girl from ten were all pulling. I realized quickly we were yanking her towards the opposite direction of the alcove and put even more strength into my pulls.

"You are quite the annoying brats," Lucy growled at us as she continued to try to make physical contact with Leith.

Suddenly, an arrow and a knife sailed right into Lucy's left arm. She let out a furious howl and turned towards the ranged team.

"How cute, you're working together!" Lucy barked.

Leith's spear worked its way into Lucy's ribcage and she used her free hand to snap the spear's shaft. She then cut the rope with one of her talons and head-butted Leith into all four of us. We tumbled to the ground and Lucy began to run towards us.

However, her attention quickly changed when an axe was sticking out of her side. As we forced ourselves back to our feet, Lucy leapt towards the ranged team.

The girl from five shoved Jordana to the right and then dove to the left. The melee team came rushing out just as Jordana hacked an axe into Lucy's other side.

I swiftly realized someone was missing and I felt myself panic. I looked to the left and saw Ace running to the exit.

Lucy noticed as well and began to pound towards Ace.

"Ace!" I yelled, "Watch out!"

I sprinted towards Ace and I could see Apollo running towards Jordana. The girl from five was struggling to get Jordana far away from Lucy.

Even though I knew Ace was ditching me, I wouldn't let her die. I just couldn't watch her die, not after losing…

I jumped and slammed my sword into Lucy's back. She simply shook my sword and me off and continued to close in on Ace.

Ace looked back at me one more time with a look of complete terror before Lucy wrapped her gigantic hands around her. Ace screamed one of the most horrific screams of agony as Lucy crushed her waist and torso in her hand. She then launched Ace back towards the blocked hallway we entered from and cannon fire rang out.

I felt all the air get sucked out of my body as my brain tried to comprehend that my ally was now dead. Suddenly, Lucy was on me and I closed my eyes, screamed, and reflexively threw my arms over my head.

I waited for the inevitable pain and crushing force, but it never came. My eyes shot open and I saw Leith standing above me, blocking Lucy's arm with one of his regular spears.

"Get up _now_" he grunted as he struggled to hold up her weight. I grabbed my sword and swung it threw her wrist, severing her hand.

Lucy let out a feral screech and retreated towards the exit.

"You saved me," I whispered, in shock, as Leith pulled me to my feet.

"No shit! Now back up!" he ordered.

He saved me.

A _Career_ saved my life.

"You're going to regret that, pigs!" Lucy howled.

* * *

><p><strong>District Seven:<strong>

**Lucian's POV:**

"I think she's fine," Winnifred whispered to Apollo as she handed off Jordana.

"Thank you," Apollo said sincerely as Jordana let out a moan.

Lucy's howls got even louder and I looked back at her. Her limbs began to sink back into her body. Her skeletal structure was changing quickly and her red hair was falling from her head. However, as her limbs continued to disappear her body began to grow in volume.

She let out one final moan and began to laugh in hisses. She smiled at us as she turned her head to the side and even I felt a twinge of fear because of her transformation. Lucy had morphed into a giant snake.

"What was I thinking," she laughed in hisses, "Only snakes eat mice such as you."

"First pigs, now mice! Make up your mind!" Cami yelled bravely.

"It's so difficult to decided which disgusting creature you resemble most, my dears!"

"Remember the plan!" Cami shouted to us.

I nodded in response and stepped in front of Winnifred and Jordana. As much as I wanted to kill sweet, little Winnifred, we needed her desperately. She was the only ranged tribute who was fully functioning.

It was just _so_ hard refraining from killing someone you've hunted for so long.

"Apollo, go. The boy from five and I got this."

Apollo glared at me but set Jordana down, "If she dies on your watch..."

"You'll attempt, and fail, to kill me. I get it, now go!"

Apollo charged ahead and joined Cami and Leith in fighting off the giant snake. Charlotte was currently tending to Ruth, trying to stop the gushing blood spewing from her head wound.

"Adam, they need you." I barked.

Adam raced forward and I glanced back at Jordana and Winnifred. "Are you both ready to start attacking again?"

They both nodded and readied their weapons. Winnifred was the first to fire and sent her arrow straight into Lucy's neck. Jordana followed by throwing an axe that hit the side of her head, but it didn't manage to stick in.

Lucy lunged towards Apollo and almost ate him whole. She swiftly spun around, hitting Cami and Adam with her tail. Both of them went flying and Ruth and Charlotte charged in to cover them.

More arrows flew out from behind me and I readied my axe in case Lucy made any sudden moves. In response to the ranged weapons, Lucy opened her mouth and a green substance began to fly towards us. Admyer pulled Jordana out of the way and I side stepped it.

The green fluid hit the ground and began to sizzle.

"Great, she can shoot acid now," Winnifred muttered as she fired another arrow, "that's just _fantastic_."

"It would have been a quicker death than I gave your friend," I smirked, unable to restrain myself.

The other tributes continued to slash and jab at Lucy, causing many wounds but she barely flinched. She began to slap her tail furiously against the ground. This created vibrations that sent at least half of the people fighting her up close to stumble to the ground.

"Perhaps we should pick up the pace!" she cackled as she used her tail to sweep all of the tributes back towards us.

All of them came sliding and rolling back to us, groaning and moaning in pain.

The sound of a shifting gear emanated through the arena and the already partially closed gate began to close even faster.

Lucy rapidly slithered towards us and another couple of arrows and axe flew straight into her.

"Shit," I muttered to myself as I took a step forward and fell into a defensive stance. Lucy attempted to barrel past me, but I rammed my sword deep into her body. I attempted to pull it back out, but she thrusted that area of her body away from me.

She slammed her head against me and smashed me to the ground. She attempted to bite me but I wriggled out from underneath her.

I grabbed one of Jordana's axes out from Lucy's body and smirked, "One thing I learned at an early age is that to kill a snake you cut off its head."

I brought the axe straight down where I knew the head connected to body and burrowed it as far deep as I could. Lucy let out a _human_ scream and thrashed about. I attempted to push it in deeper, hoping to hit some sort of nerve, but she raised her head high off the ground and slammed her tail into me.

She did this with much more force and strength then she did to the other tributes and I heard the cracking and breaking of my ribs. I flew through the air and was crushed into a nearby wall.

Black circles began to cloud my vision, but I tried to will myself to stay conscious. I tried to breathe, but all I could do was take in very shallow breaths without feeling myself beginning to lose conscious again from the pain.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I fully came to, I suspected not very much, but I made myself find Lucy. I could tell she was currently changing into another form and the rest of the tributes were dodging her desperately thrashing body and attempting to kill her once and for all.

"I could kill you," I heard someone grunt shakily.

I looked up to my left and smiled. Winnifred was standing five feet away, bow poised. Her arrow was nocked, but she was shaking greatly. Tears were streaming down her bright red face.

"No you… couldn't," I wheezed.

I began to use the wall to get back up on my feet as Winnifred hissed through her teeth, "Yes I could! I know you killed Jacqie. I know you hurt her in so many ways. I could kill you for that!"

"Most people… could," I smiled, "but you can't… I know you, Winnifred."

I was leaning heavily against the wall and coughed out some blood into my arm.

"You're too scared to kill… Every time you even… think about it, you begin to panic… You don't know how you could… live with the guilt… You couldn't sleep at night knowing you were no better than me."

"I'm nothing like you," Winnifred cried, her bow shaking even more.

"You're right… I'm a survivor and you're… just game waiting to be hunted, skinned, and put on display… I could _show_ you my other trophies," I smiled grappling for the bags where I kept the heads of my previous victims. I knew they were crushed and mutilated beyond repair after this battle, but all the better for Winnifred's viewing.

"Don't." Winnifred gasped as she began hyperventilating.

"I think I should show you Jacqie first… I bet she'd love to see you," I laughed sadistically, realizing why Cami loved playing with people's heads so much more than their bodies. It was a nice change. It was definitely something I could get used to.

"You know," I continued as I slowly began to undo the top of the backpack, "I'm going to enjoy killing you… You'd be quite the competitor with that spirit of yours if you could actually kill. I mean, you can't even _fight _anyone properly, except for Lucy! All that took was her turning into a mutation."

"Lucian!" I heard Cami yell. I turned towards her, worried for a second, as I saw her staring at me.

I attempted to yell back, but found I couldn't find my voice. Cami screamed out my name again, but her attention was quickly taken back by Lucy as her transformation had completed.

I turned back to Winnifred and saw her crying, but fury colored her face.

That's when I noticed an arrow was missing.

Winnifred let out a cry and fired another arrow into me.

I fell to the ground and finally felt the arrow protruding out of my neck and now torso. Winnifred let out another cry and grabbed one of the knives from my belt. She started desperately stabbing me as she cried out for me to die.

"Die! Die! Die you animal! Die you monster!" she cried out, emphasizing each 'die' with a stab.

I collapsed to the ground in so much pain that not only couldn't I enjoy it, but I couldn't _feel_ it.

I saw Winnifred, still crying and attacking me, being pulled off by her district partner. Blood, _my blood_, stained her as she was pulled far away from me.

I turned my head to the side to see Jacqie staring straight at me. In my last few moments it appeared that she was smiling. As if she was _laughing _at me; that, in the end, I was killed by my own prey. As the darkness took me, all I could wonder was how did this happen.

The hunter was never supposed to be killed.

I was supposed to be invincible.

I was never supposed to die…

* * *

><p><strong>District Two:<strong>

**Jordana's POV:**

Another cannon rang out and I didn't even try to pick out who was missing.

I had bigger things to worry about.

Lucy's new transformation, most likely because of her grievous head wound, was a giant spider.

Red hair covered her entire body except for her face that was now attached to her torso. Her set of razor sharp teeth were now constantly spinning. She had two pincers as well as eight legs, although two of them were mangled beyond recognition. That was probably because of the injury Ruth inflicted earlier to her hand.

Lucy was still in our way of the exit, which was now more than half way closed and was speedily shutting.

"I'm going to kill them," Cami hissed.

I followed her trail of vision and saw two tributes running against the far wall of the room towards the exit. One of them was covered in blood from head to toe, too much to be just their own. I was completely shocked to realize it was the small girl from District Five.

They both raced through the doorway, making it to safety.

"Focus on the here and now," Leith barked, "because by the looks of it, we don't have much time."

Lucy made a hellish clicking noise and began to shoot web towards us. I shuffled out of the way, while the others kept moving forward.

"Go for the legs!" Cami ordered.

Leith and Ruth went around the left side while the pair from District Six and District Ten went to the right. Apollo and Cami took to the front, attempting to distract Lucy as best as they could.

I grabbed the last throwing axe I had and got into the proper stance. This was the last shot I had, so I had better make it count for something.

Struggling to deal with the excruciating pain from my deep wound, I pulled my arm back. As quickly as I could to not prolong the pain, I launched the axe straight towards Lucy's face.

"Incoming," I yelled.

Apollo and Cami both knew what that meant and rolled to the side. The axe sliced through one of her pincers and sunk right into her face between her eyes.

The clicking picked up in speed and she began to thrash about again. Leith sliced through one of her legs and Ruth began to stab the abdominal region where the web came from. Apollo and Cami began to work on cutting two separate legs off. I picked up a nearby sword and shuffled towards Lucy.

I looked around for the pair from District Six and District Ten. As I got to Lucy, I saw the shadows of two fleeing figures ascend the staircase. Logically, it made sense to ditch us now since all of us could turn on them any second.

Right as I was about to start slicing a leg off, I noticed the large metal door began to move with even more speed.

The realization hit me that this entire time every tribute that went through the door made it drop faster and with more strength. It seemed that now it was dropping at such a speed that there was no way we were going to make it out unless we ran and _now_.

I glanced around and knew there was no way of conveying this information to the others in this chaos. I spotted Apollo in between the flailing legs and remembered him when we fought the dragon mutt. He was willing to sacrifice everything to be the hero… _my_ hero.

It was time to return the favor.

I used the pain shooting through me to push myself to walk towards the archway faster. I dropped the sword and hastily scrambled to the exit.

I could hear the clicks of Lucy getting quieter and quieter; all the while the door was getting closer, foot by foot, to shutting forever.

I finally reached the door and fell to my knees. I wedged myself between the floor and the metal gate. I used my back and both arms to support the large door, while forcing my knees to hold pressure on my wound and also support my upper body. I used all my remaining strength to hold it up.

"Hurry and get out!" I screamed as I closed my eyes to try and just focus on holding it up.

Lucy was no longer making any audible noises and I could make out the sounds of feet slapping against the hard ground. The pressure of the gate was beginning to feel unbearable. It felt as if my arms were going to fold in on themselves like a jack-in-the-box.

I could feel one tribute go through and then another. I counted two more sliding underneath on either side of me.

With each tribute, the pressure and weight grew. I let out a frustrated scream, but then I could feel the weight lessen ever so slightly.

I opened my eyes and saw Apollo kneeling next to me, struggling to put his entire body weight into holding the door up.

"We go on three," Apollo said through gritted teeth.

I smiled, knowing the Gamemakers weren't letting both of us out of here… Even if they did… I was doomed.

"No, we'll both end up with our legs crushed underneath its mass. You go and I'll follow," I lied.

"Bu-"

"I'm the stronger between the two of us."

He nodded slightly and rolled swiftly to safety.

I looked over at him and sent him my best smile through the agony, "Win for me."

Before he could do anything to get himself killed over me, I slid back into the twelfth floor and the door slid into place.

I put my head against the gate and covered my abdomen with both of my arms. I heard the desperate banging and calling of my name.

"Go Apollo! Get out of here!" I cried out. I didn't wanting him to be this close when I died.

The banging began to soften until it was completely gone.

I pulled my arms away and looked at the blood that coated them. I then glared at Lucy as she pulled herself towards me. Her body was completely mangled, every single one of her legs missing except for one.

Then, before my eyes, she began to shrink. Her form started changing until it started to resemble a human. The hair receded into her body everywhere except for her scalp and turned back to her normal brown color.

She looked up at me and grinned.

There was a deep wound in her face that curved from in between her eyes to the left corner of her mouth.

"Nice shot," she cackled as she pointed to her face.

"I could say the same," as I lifted my arms higher, revealing the wound she gave me earlier, "You should be proud. You got me good with those claws of yours when you jumped at Winnifred and me."

"I was trying to pull your innards out," she shrugged.

"It would have worked if Winnifred hadn't shoved me out of the way."

"True," she smirked, "but I also must commend you on hiding that wound the entire fight. It's _really_ deep and looks extremely painful."

"I had to," I groaned in pain, "If Apollo would have seen it he wouldn't have been able to pay attention and he most likely wouldn't have gotten out of here alive."

"The only reason those last four made it out was because you sacrificed yourself."

"Not much of a sacrifice since I was going to die of blood loss anyways."

"Doesn't matter, I got three of you."

"Yeah, good work," I whispered as I felt myself slipping.

"It's my job. I can't disobey orders."

"And why is that?" I asked just so that I wouldn't have to keep talking.

"Because they can end my life with the click of a button…" Lucy whispered, "And I'd give or do anything to live longer… At least all of you had years to live life. I've only had a good three weeks to live like a human…"

"Did you enjoy it?"

"It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had as a mutt… It was even better than last year when I got to just screw with everyone's minds."

I raised an eyebrow at her and Lucy replied, "My name last year was Angel. The little girl who screwed with everyone? Yep, that was me."

"Good to know," I sighed sleepily.

"Do you want me to just end it now? I still have one more arm," she joked morbidly.

"No," I smiled lightly, "I've gotten past the worst of it. Now is the peaceful part… the part where I just drift away…"

"Tell me," Lucy gasped desperately, "I'm just turned off like a piece of machinery. It ends abruptly with no warning or feeling."

"Honestly?" I asked.

She nodded furiously with desperation in her eyes.

"It's what I'd imagine the ocean to be like. The pain ebbs in and out, like waves, but you also feel warm, like the sun is shining down on you. You kind of feel this… harmony. Like everything is alright with the world."

"Most people's deaths aren't like that," Lucy said matter-of-fact.

"Maybe they haven't accepted it like I have. Now shush, let me enjoy my last few seconds."

Lucy shut her mouth and I did just that. I lay there with my eyes closed, ignoring the pain and the feeling of my warm blood pooling around me now that I wasn't applying pressure to the wound. I focused on the 'light' that everyone talked about and felt its warmth. Then, in the moment before I let go, everything was beautiful.

_I_ was beautiful.

Death itself… was _beautiful_.

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine:<strong>

**Hawk's POV:**

Two cannons were shot but I just stared into the fireplace.

"This place is huge," Asita commented as she walked back into the small sitting room with more wet rags.

"It certainly wasn't what I was expecting," I grumbled.

"I don't think being locked in a gigantic mansion is anyone's ideal environment," Asita agreed.

She began to roll up my pant leg even higher and I hissed.

Asita scolded, "Stop pitching a fit. These need to be treated otherwise you won't be going anywhere for a while."

I rolled my eyes and let her redress the wounds on my left leg.

"You're lucky," she continued as she worked, "There's no actual muscle damage and it isn't very deep. She just grazed you in comparison to what she actually could have done."

"Yes, I'm so very lucky because I'm able to walk at a very slow pace all the while having pain shoot through my calves," I replied sarcastically.

"You're lucky to still have your calves," she snapped.

I dropped the conversation, knowing she had a valid point. We continued to sit by the fire as she washed the wounds on my right leg. I let out another sharp hiss and she lightly pushed my shoulder, "Stop being such a baby."

"Where'd you learn to do this," I asked to distract myself from the stinging pain.

"When you can't afford a doctor you learn to manage on your own," she replied, "Plus, making stiches isn't all that different from sewing your own clothes."

She leaned over me to check the stew that was cooking in the fire.

"What'd you do to piss off your Career so much," I tactlessly asked.

She flinched slightly but continued to stir the stew slowly.

"It's a long story," she whispered.

"Does it look like I'm going anywhere anytime soon?"

She let out a small sigh and looked me in the eyes. For the first time since I'd met her, she didn't seem like a _complete _bitch. She seemed almost… vulnerable?

Then, without hesitation, she started unloading it on me. She didn't start with what she did. She began with telling me about her siblings back home and what she did to support her family. She told me she was willing to do anything to get back home to them and how she devised a plan to do just that. She told me that she slept with her mentor to get her district partner's sponsor money and that she picked Apollo to be her shield. She told me about the date, the moments they had together, and then finally what she did.

"Wow," I said after the story was done.

"I know, but how can I blame him?" she sighed, "Sure, he practically gave his consent to Valhalla for my death, but I've lied to him since day one."

"It's still a betrayal," I replied adamantly.

"I'm still an awful person," she whispered, "but as sad and angry as it makes me, I don't take any of it back. Not stabbing Jordana, not sleeping with one of my mentors, and not even using Apollo... All of it brings me one step closer to getting home."

"You may have lied, but you never actually hurt him, right?" I asked.

She nodded and I shrugged, "So you lied about your feelings and true intentions. You still helped him and Careers survive. As long as you weren't harming him, he's the one who betrayed you… not the other way around."

"That's a twisted way to look at it," she laughed.

"I'm a twisted person."

"How twisted?" she asked.

"Twisted enough to be a con-artist and thief back in District Nine."

"I'm sorry," she replied hastily.

"It's fine… It's the family business," I chuckled.

She laughed as well and we smiled at each other

I immediately remembered who I was talking to and blurted, "The stew."

"What-"

"The stew. You need to check the stew."

"Oh… Okay," she mumbled, looking at me as if I was insane.

She checked the stew and began serving it.

"It's nice to have food again," I smiled.

"Yeah, well it comes with a price."

I frowned and felt my face scrunch up into a scowl.

"Hey, I just spent a good chunk of my time spilling my guts to you. Now it's your turn to tell me about your time in the arena."

I shrugged, "Nothing too eventful has happened."

"Hawk," she said while rolling her eyes, "I know you're mysterious. I didn't even find out your name until this morning-"

"You were the one who said you didn't care!"

"Details, details," she replied with a shake of her head, "but I know at least one thing happened to you in the arena because you were looking at your district partner just like Apollo was looking at me. So spill your guts out to me."

Usually, I would have shrugged my shoulders and avoided the topic. Shockingly, something about Asita's straight up, no shit approach was refreshing. It was refreshing enough that I told her all about Ace and the betrayal. I even ended up telling her about the deal I made with the mutts and how I let Scarlett die just so I could get his supplies.

"Scarlett has even been popping up in my dreams," I finished as I took another bite of my stew.

She shook her head and said, "That's awful… I'm sorry."

"You do that a lot. Apologize."

"Maybe I just have a ton of stuff I should be sorry for and I use you to relieve the guilt," she laughed lightly.

Before I could respond, the anthem played and we looked around for some sort of monitor.

Just like down under, the screen appeared for us on one of the blank walls. We both watched as Jordana's face appeared on screen.

"There goes my biggest competition," Asita whispered, "but if Apollo wanted to kill me before he'll certainly be hunting me down now."

The next face to appear on the screen was Lucy from District Six.

"I'm surprised they counted her as a tribute when she died," I thought aloud.

"Even if she was mutt, she still went through everything we went through. I don't see why not," Asita reasoned.

The next tribute was a complete shock and I heard both of us gasp and breathe sighs of relief when Lucian appeared before us.

"Thank Panem he's dead," Asita smiled, "I know this may be wrong for me to think-"

"Hasn't stopped you in the past."

"But," she continued, ignoring my comment, "I think the world's a better place without him in it."

"If not the world, at least the arena" I agreed.

The last tribute to pop up was the one and only Ace and it was my turn to feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

"I won't have to worry about her anymore," I said as the anthem faded away.

"No one will."

Suddenly, a voice rang out and chills went up and down my spine, "Hello tributes! It is Head Gamemaker Lavender here to congratulate all of you for making it this far! Until now, the arena was meant to weed out the weaker tributes. Those of you still alive are the strongest of this year's tributes. So congratulations my pretties! Let the real games begin!"

Her voice drifted away and I felt a small wave of panic fly through my body.

"The real games?"

"We'd better be prepared for what comes next," Asita nodded as she began to set up her place to sleep.

_We_

I'm not sure I liked where this was going.

"Thanks for saving me back there," she added as she put her head down.

"I did it for the supplies," I blurted bluntly.

"I know," she smirked, "But I'm still thankful…"

I shook my head and tried to drive Asita from my brain. Manipulation was her game. Whatever angle she was playing, it wasn't going to work on me. Any signs of friendship she showed were fake… right?

Before I could confuse myself anymore, I forced her from my thoughts.

However, all that was left were Lavender's words. "Let the real games begin". I could almost hear the Capitol celebrating that their favorite tributes had made it. I could imagine their laughter as they rejoiced over the excitement to come. It was if they were just betting on a chicken in a cock fight. They were just staring, waiting for the animals to go at each other.

The Capitol was waiting for the feathers and blood to fly.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey! Okay, so I'm super excited to post this chapter. I've spent the past few days at my Grandma's (I still didn't have any WiFi) and all I really had was my laptop. So I wrote, and holy crap I hadn't written so much so fast in such a long time! It felt amazing! Seriously, I wrote down over half of this chapter in one sitting and I had to force myself to stop because my hands and fingers were twitching like crazy. <strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Anyways eulogies! <strong>

**Ace- Girl, what can I say? You were my sneaky, super ninja! I loved you and your stalking ways. I was always thinking of what you were doing in the arena and who you were following because you were never really in the spotlight! You will be missed.**

**Lucian- My main villain of this story! You were so screwed up and I LOVED IT! Seriously, I've had way to much fun playing with you. Fun fact for those of my reader that actually read these, Lucian wasn't going to die until way later. Yep, the person who was going to die this chapter was Leith. However a commenter said (You know who you are) that they couldn't wait to finally see Leith's career side. Well, that comment got me thinking about this other side of Leith I hadn't shown and then I thought about him in battle and then… Well, you get the picture and now Leith is still around because I have plans for him… plans to develop him and ugh I'm excited. Anyway, Lucian I flipping love you, but I just couldn't afford to pass up sweet Winnfred freaking losing her marbles and killing you (which, let's face it, she couldn't have done in any other situation).**

**Jordana- One of the hardest to kill. Seriously, she's been gravely injured for SUCH a long time, yet I couldn't let her go. So, I did what I had to and made myself give her such a grievous wound that she couldn't NOT die. That's how I have to kill characters sometimes. I just have to slowly injure them until it's like "Really Europa? If you keep them alive it will just be getting ridiculous." **

* * *

><p><strong>So, this is a super long chapter, but I'm not splitting it up into two parts. Let it be a make up for all these months I've missed, okay? Okay! So all is forgiven! <strong>

**Until next time!**


	43. Day Ten: Part One: Stop

**Day Ten: Stop**

**Part One:**

**Head Gamemaker:**

**Lavender's POV:**

"Cheers," someone rang out in unison with the clinking of glasses.

I lazily sipped as I loosely held the stem of the glass. The sounds of rejoice and merriment resounded throughout the room. The President called last night, personally congratulating us on a job well done. She even told us to take the night off, sent a limousine to our location, and paid for an evening of _very_ expensive fun.

What spurned this sudden act of gratitude beats me, but I knew it wasn't just because of what happened in the arena. Something else happened that really got her going, and I know it wasn't getting her lady bits fiddled with for the first time in ages.

The bliss from last night was obviously carrying over to this morning as expensive bubbly was delivered to our control room, courtesy of the President herself. I gazed down at the mentors below us. Unlike our loud escapades, they were extremely quiet. They looked down-heartened, almost lost.

We were celebrating the very thing that they were mourning.

I raised my gaze to the large screen in front of them and took in the scene. Admyer was seated several yards away from a blood soaked Winnifred. After they had managed to get away from the bloodbath, Winnifred shoved Admyer away and collapsed to the ground. She hadn't made another noise since and had only changed into a curled up sitting position several hours ago. Sponsors were lining up the street, pockets filled to the brim with money, waiting.

She had managed to brutally kill the biggest threat in this entire game. This now, technically speaking, made her the biggest threat. However, the only thing stopping her from getting showered in sponsors and praise was her mental state. No one was going to bet any money on her until they knew she hadn't cracked… And as of now, she appeared to have completely shut down.

"So what's the deal?" a figure asked as they fell into the chair next to me.

I turned in his direction and saw it was Mitchel, the newest and youngest Gamemaker. Throughout these games, I had actually found him to be quite useful and helpful. He was always paying attention and seemed to pick up on things swiftly. He reminded me a bit of myself when I first started, except for the fact he seems to have no ambition. He doesn't seem to care about rising up in the ranks; all he wants to be is a part of the process.

It's noble, really. Naïve and stupid, but noble.

"What deal are you referring to," as I continued to sip.

Poor Mitchel… Last night, it was made apparent almost instantly that the amount of alcohol he could handle was a few mouthfuls, at best, before he was completely wasted. This led to my fellow colleagues making sure he always had a drink in hand and they quickly brought him to the point of black out drunk.

By the smell and the way his words were slurring together, they were still dumping alcohol down his throat.

Everyone's _so_ happy and having _such_ a good time," he smiled, "but you're sitting over here all by yourself!"

"I'm thinking about the games. They're not over yet."

"They might as well be! There's no way we could top yesterday! That made history!"

"The games are never over," I whispered as I stood up from my chair. I handed my glass to Mitchel and began to walk towards the door.

"Now where are you going," Mitchel called as he stumbled after me.

"On a stroll," I replied casually as I sifted through my drunken colleagues.

"But you never leave th-", someone began to say.

"I am now," I barked as I walked through the door. It shut swiftly behind me, blocking every noise from within the room. The hallway was silent.

Blissfully silent.

I glided through the hallway, not exactly knowing where I was heading. For some reason, my thoughts were completely jumbled up into different pieces. I felt like there was a large puzzle in my brain and I didn't have a clue if I even had all the pieces.

Winnifred's expression when she saw what she had done kept forcing itself into my thoughts. Not when she was killing him, the second afterwards when it hit her.

I dove into one of the storage rooms and slammed the door shut behind me. It was dank, dark, and deep in the basement. It was also so silent that I felt like it made its own distinct noise.

"Think Lavender," I yelled at myself, "Why are you so worked up!"

Winnifred is just a district kid. She is just another spawn of those stupid rebels. She's just another tribute that you kill. She's nothing.

_She's you._

I gasped at my own thoughts and I thought of my own family. The family that were killed during a riot started by a sect of rebels. The family who just owned a store in the Capital. A family who had nothing to with the Hunger Games, except for the fact that my father was a politician.

The image of my mother lying on the concrete coated in blood. The scene of her being carted away. The memory of her looking at me and with no recognition or love. The letter stating her death only a couple months afterwards.

"Go away," I screamed as I grabbed a box and smashed it against the wall.

"Stop thinking! Stop feeling! Just _stop_!"

The silence that followed as I dropped to my knees became unbearable. I heaved out something I thought I had forgotten how to do. The sound of my sobs vibrated off the walls and crashed against my ears.

"I wanted this," I whispered, "I'm doing the things I always wanted to do."

Back then, the weeks that followed losing my family were excruciating. I was put with all the other rift rafts and left to my own devices. I was completely alone in a city where people only cared about themselves. No one looked my way. No one wanted me.

So I decided I would get revenge on those stupid rebels. I would make sure that they never got their goal and they had to continue to watch their precious tributes die in even sicker ways that only I could think up. I wanted to kill so that others knew what it was like to lose those most important to you. I wanted everyone else to feel just like I did.

I did just that. I spent years getting here and now I'm on top. I'm doing what I always wanted to do.

And I'm still completely and utterly alone.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

I stared at her, waiting for something. Part of me expected Winnie to scream even more and act out. Another part hoped she would get up and smile at me, like nothing even happened. I never would have thought she would just be so still and silent. I felt as if I was already staring at a corpse.

During the fight, I lost sight of Winnie. I continued to fight and dodge, hoping we could just get rid of the muttation and get out without a scrape.

However, when I found her again, all I could see was the blood. I ran to her, expecting there to be a gaping wound. I was going to rip off Lucian's head, thinking he had inflicted a life-threatening wound on Winnie. Even when I had to tear her away from Lucian's corpse, it didn't hit me that sweet, little Winnie had brutally attacked and murdered Lucian.

I didn't know what to do now. When I called out to her, she didn't respond. If I tried to touch her, she flailed out of my grip. There was nothing to do but wait.

That's what I've been doing for hours. Waiting for something. Some indication that Winnie is still in there. That my ally who was optimistic about everything and always had a slight smile on her face was still alive.

"I'm done waiting," I whispered. I could hear the pure exhaustion in my voice and I realized how tired I really was. I wanted to curl up in a corner just like Winnie. I wanted the world to just stop for a day and let me not move and think.

But I couldn't do that. After all the times that Winnie has said words of encouragement to help keep me going… I owe her and myself to be the one to return the favor.

I pushed myself to my feet and slowly began to approach Winnie. She was turned away from me and made no response to my footsteps slapping against the tile.

"Winnie?" I asked, hoping for a response. I reached out my hand. As it touched her shoulder, she retreated further into the corner. I continued to reach and she backed herself in as much as she physically could.

"Winnie," I said with a more assertive voice, "We need to get the blood off of you. I need to see if there are any wounds that need to be treated."

Plus, being covered in someone else's blood for hours would drive anyone crazy.

"There's a restroom with a shower right down that hallway," I continued.

No response.

"Fine," I shrugged.

I grabbed her arm and yanked her towards me. She immediately began to struggle and I just pulled her closer. She let out a screech as wrapped my other arm around her torso and began to drag her towards the hallway.

"If you're not going to take care of yourself then I have to," I grunted as I repositioned my other arm.

She continued to slip and struggle as dried blood began to crackle off. I felt wetness near her ribs, indicating a wound. This empowered me more as I heaved her towards the restroom.

She let out another screech and dug her teeth into my forearm.

"What the hell," I yelled as I dropped her.

She hit the floor and began to scramble away.

I swiftly wrapped my arm around her waist and held her against my hip. Her snarls and screams were even louder and prayed there were no tribute nearby.

"_Stop_ _it_ Winnie!" I growled as I turned the knob on the shower, "I'm not just going to let you give up and die!"

Cold water began to stream from the shower head. I pushed her into the water and began to scrape the blood caked on her arms. She attempted to shove her way out of the shower, but I pinned her against the wall. I used one arm to hold her showers against the wall as I scrubbed with the other. The water was still ice cold and didn't seem to be getting any warmer anytime soon.

Winnie continued to struggle as I reached her neck and face. I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and forced her head under the stream of water. I tried to massage the blood out of her hair and watched as it began to lighten more towards her blonde coloring.

She attempted to shove me again, but this time I heard a different sound. I moved a portion of her hair away from her face and saw something that was equally heartbreaking as it was relieving.

I saw pure, raw emotion as Winnie let out deep sobs.

Suddenly, she stopped holding herself up and almost fell. I grabbed her, but ended up slipping as well. We hit the bottom of the shower and I attempted to detangle myself from Winnie.

As I did, I noticed she was doing the opposite. She was gripping my shirt, my hair, anything she could touch. I quickly subdued the surprise and moved her around so that her back was to me and she was in between my legs.

I shifted myself into a sitting position against the wall and wrapped my arms around her as the cold water hit us.

"It's ok," I murmured, "You're ok."

The scary thing was I had to lie.

I had no idea if she was ok or ever would be.

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Camilla's POV**:

"Mmmmhmmm," I purred as I found my way to consciousness. I stretched out my arms and arched my back as I slowly fluttered my eyes open. I gazed around the plush room as I snuggled back down into the velvet couch. The room had beautiful paintings splashed across its walls and cabinets filled with detailed artifacts.

"You slept well."

I moved my gaze over to the man standing by the door, sword in hand.

"And you didn't sleep at all," I countered, "Come sit."

"We need to get moving," Apollo barked.

"No, you need to chill out. You look like you're about to pop a blood vessel."

I patted the chair across from me and waited for him to sit down. He glared at me for a few seconds, but gave in and marched over to the posh chair.

"See? That wasn't so hard," I laughed as I laid my head back down.

"You said we'd start hunting today."

"And we will," I snapped, "But I've been sleeping on cold, metal floors for the past… Ten days is it? I think I deserve a little relaxation before I start hacking down tributes again."

Apollo rolled his eye and turned his head to look out the window. I stared at his dysfunctional eye, slightly disgusted. It was pale, jelly-like, and watery. Plus, there was this weird crust that kept forming around the edges that was totally putrid. No wonder he kept it covered up.

"You think the Capital will fix that thing?" I bluntly said.

"If you're referring to my eye," he replied through gritted teeth, "I don't know and I don't care."

"It's just such an eyesore," I giggled, "Oh my Panem, I didn't even mean to make a pun!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

I moaned and pushed myself to a sitting position, "You used to be so much more fun Apollo. Lighten up."

His shoulders tensed and his eyes bore into mine, "Lighten up? _Lighten_ _up_! We're in the Hunger Games. Jordana is _dead_ and the two people whose fault it is are still walking around! You need to _sober_ _up_! God, Lucian is dead and you don't even care."

I felt my chest seize up and I snarled, "You think I don't care? Oh, I care a whole lot. When I find those two rats from District Five I'm going to rip the boy in half and flail the girl to death with his corpse. But guess what babe, Lucian _is_ dead. I don't think he cares _when_ I exactly avenge his death and neither do I. All I need to do right now is look after myself."

Apollo growled, "You do realize I'm only allied with you because it's safer if we stick together. I don't need you to win this."

I laughed as I snuggled back into the couch, "Babe, you're not going to win. I just need you for when we come up against Leith. After that, you're free game just like everyone else."

"Why are you so relaxed?"

"Why are you so uptight?" I countered, "Really, I understand what Valhalla did that made you want to kill her so much but Asita? This can't just be about the fact she slept with her mentor. Everyone, including you, knew she was a total skank."

"That's right, you ran before you could see what happened," he barbed.

"You bet your ass I did."

There was a beat of silence before he explained, "When I lost Valhalla, I came back to see Asita had driven a knife in Jordana's stomach."

He stared straight at me expecting something. Maybe shock, sympathy? All I knew was his eyes widened when I started cackling.

"Oh my Panem! I can't believe she did that! Now that takes _guts_."

"What!" he snarled.

"Kicking her when she was down? Yeah, that's feisty. I think I can actually say I like her now."

"You have one second before I run this sword through your neck," Apollo growled.

"You wouldn't dare," I smirked, "Apollo, be reasonable. If I was in Asita's position, I would have decapitated you and then done the same thing to Jordana to make sure that if the poison didn't kill her, I did."

"How can you-"

"Don't be stupid," I said as I rolled my eyes, "In case you don't remember, you pretty much gave Valhalla the signal to end Asita's life. Oh, not to mention you obviously screwed the crap out of her and you still chose another girl you had no sexual attraction to whatsoever."

"She-"

"Don't get me wrong," I ranted as I began to pick up my supplies, "I'm not saying she's a saint or that I'm going to stop you from brutally murdering her. All I'm saying is that, as a woman, I understand why she staked Jordana. I just never thought she would have the drive to do anything like that."

I stopped to fix my hair in the reflection from the cabinet. It was still a frizzy mess and I could feel streaks of blood in its chocolate brown clumps, but it didn't look awful. My face was covered in light scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. I looked like a Career in the Hunger Games, but I was fine. In fact, I was better than fine. I knew that I could handle anything that was thrown at me. As much as I wished Lucian was here, that wasn't going to stop me from winning this.

"I mean, that's what Asita had you for. You know, doing all the dirty work," I laughed, knowing I was burrowing my way under Apollo's skin, "Ready to go?"

Without even glancing at Apollo, I sashayed out the door into the long corridor. The remaining tributes had better watch out because nothing, and I meant _nothing_, was going to stop me from getting out of here alive.

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Leith's POV:**

"So let me get this straight," Ruth prattled on as she followed behind me, "You volunteered to be in the Hunger Games because you're best friend got the love of your life pregnant. Only she didn't actually love you back so that wouldn't technically make her"

"That's not exactly what I said," I interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but I-"

"Do you ever stop talking?" I snapped at her.

She came to a halt and I heard a gasp escape her lips.

I turned around and saw a look of pure horror display itself on her face, "Oh god, I'm becoming Ace. I spent too much time with her and now I'm becoming her. Oh god."

I put my hand to my forehead and began to rub my temples. For some deranged reason this girl thought that, since I saved her life, she now had to stick with me until she returned the favor in some way. She was in complete shock that I didn't let her die. I had tried to tell her _more than once_ that we were in the heat of battle against the same enemy. It was just the Career training kicking in automatically. She just wouldn't listen.

For some even more disturbing reason, I hadn't killed her yet.

Logically, it made some sense to keep her around. She was good in a fight, despised or didn't care for my biggest competition, and she was intent on repaying her 'debt'. If you put that aside, though, I would have normally just have cut her down and put myself one tribute closer to winning.

"Your ally?" I asked, slightly curious.

"Well we weren't really allies," she started, "More of 'let's not kill each other for a little bit'. I personally just didn't like her and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. She used to do the same thing I'm doing right now. She would follow me around, ask endless questions, and always just blabber on about nothing. For someone so sneaky, she really could be unbearably loud and-"

"You're doing it again," I said, chuckling quietly when the same horrific expression crossed her face.

"This is just crazy," she sighed as she began walking again, "I'm marching around with a Career who saved my life just babbling my head off. Who the hell would have thought?"

I nodded, not really knowing how to respond. I never really would have thought either. She made it extremely apparent before the Hunger Games how she felt about the Careers. Plus, she was always skulking around and the only time she ever talked was to make some snide remark. The girl standing beside me seems to be nothing like the girl I first saw.

"Maybe it's the shock of seeing someone I fought for my life with flung against a wall of boulders by a giant muttation who was once a tribute," she continued, "or maybe it's because I'm now questioning everything I ever thought about in life and the only way I can figure it out is by saying it aloud."

"Maybe," I responded, trying to ignore the need to use some heavy sarcasm.

"So now our goal is the District Three girl who killed your district partner," she confirmed.

"Yep."

"Makes sense. If she can kill a Career she's a threat in my book."

"Uh-huh."

Ruth finally picked up on the queue that I was done talking and seemed to direct her attention to the surrounding foyer. It was extravagant and bright. Two crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The floor seemed to glisten in the light streaming in from the windows.

"Leith-"

"What," I barked, losing all patience after thinking that I was going to get some much needed silence, "What more could you possibly want to talk about!"

"Look," she whispered.

I followed her finger and saw a little girl sitting on the steps. Her red hair looked like fire in the sunlight and she was holding a small china doll to her chest as she stared at us with large, green eyes.

"Hi," she murmured.

I looked at Ruth and I could see the fear in her eyes as she said, "Hey there."

"Did you come to play with me?"

Ruth let out a shaky laugh and began to walk towards the stairs. "Not exactly. A bunch of other boys and girls, like us, came here and are playing a game."

"Ooh," the girl screeched, "I want to play! Can I play? Please!"

"I'm not sure it's the kind of game you want to play," I laughed.

The girl's eyes locked onto mine and her face turned bright red.

"But I want to play," she huffed and threw her china doll. As soon as it left her hands, a force pushed me into the air and I went flying as well. The air escaped out of my lungs as I slammed into a wall and fell onto an end table.

"You can play!" Ruth gushed, "Don't worry!"

I looked up and saw the little girl was smiling ear to ear. She let out a cheer and screamed, "Ok! Tell me how?"

"Well, it's a team game." Ruth started, "Do you want to be on our team?"

"Yes! I truly do!"

"Good," Ruth replied with fake enthusiasm, "Here's what you have to do. You have to find the other boys and girls in this house and… tag them."

"Tag? What's tag?"

"Well… Maybe tag isn't the right word. You need to…"

"Rip them to pieces," the little girl interrupted, "just like I did with the other boy?"

"What other boy?" Ruth asked cautiously.

"The bigger one. He was mean and broke one of my dolls… So I broke him!" She squealed, "But it's ok because Daddy made him all better. He's now one of my favorite playmates!"

"Daddy?" I asked.

"Don't worry, you'll get to meet Daddy soon," she giggled, "We are on the same team, which means Daddy is on our team too!"

"Oh no," I muttered as I began to make my way towards Ruth.

The girl sprung up and began to race up the stairs, "I'm so excited! I'm going to go find the other boys and girls and 'tag' them!"

"What do you want us to do?" Ruth asked.

The girl stopped as she reached the entrance of a hallway. She stared right at us and giggled, "Don't get in my way."

With that, she pranced out of sight and I could hear her begin humming a tune.

"Was this a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked, completely perplexed.

"I don't know. All I do know is I want it to stop."

* * *

><p><strong>So its been months. I bet a lot of you are even surprised to see this story is still continuing. Pretty much, I have no excuse. <strong>

**However, I will tell you the reasons. I moved my senior year and it just made everything really hectic. I was just so busy and I didn't make time to write. Finally, I thought I reached a point where I wanted and needed to write again. However, at the same time, I lost someone who was very near and dear to me. In fact, they were one of the people who practically raised me. It was really hard and it just felt like a punch to the gut. I lost all passion for everything. Writing, schoolwork, acting, video games, books... You name it, I had no desire to really do it anymore. **

**However, now I feel like I'm finally past the worst of it. I've come to terms with the person's passing. I've finished a bunch of classes that I needed to graduate and got accepted to a college I'm really interested in. I feel like everything is finally calming down and I'm ready to write again. **

**That being said, I can't promise this won't happen again. I don't think it will and I'm not planning on it, but it happened six months ago. **

**The one thing I CAN promise is that I will never give up on this story. I've spent too much time and love these characters too much to not end it. They deserve to have their story told and I'm going to do it! **

**That being said, I hope some of you will stay with me on this journey and continue to review when I post content up. **

**Thanks for always being there,**

**Europa**


	44. Day Ten: Part Two: Darkness

**Day Ten: Darkness**

**Part Two:**

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

As soon as we heard a door slam shut further down the hallway, Asita and I began to scramble. She swiftly put out the fire, attempting to clear all the smoke and embers. As she did that, I snatched every single supply, whether it was hers or mine, and shoved it into the backpacks we possessed. We would have to sort out which supplies were mine and which were hers later.

As we rushed about, hearing the tributes close in room by room, I stumbled and grabbed a painting above the fireplace for balance. Instead of it falling and making a loud racket, it swung open slightly. I peered inside and saw that it was a small, square compartment surrounded by brick.

"Over here," I whispered as I started to push myself onto the mantle with my right arm.

"I thought we agreed that if someone found us in here we would hide in the bureau," Asita argued as she looked into the small, cramped space.

"_You_ can hide in there if you want, but this seems a little more discreet," I murmured as I tried to heave my legs up.

"You don't have to be so condescending about it," she mumbled as she helped get my legs into the small space.

"I was just speaking in your native tongue," I snapped as I helped her in.

She dug her nails into my arm in response and I let out a hiss.

"_Oops_," she said innocently as she put the supplies on my feet and pulled the frame closed.

It was pitch black and not a single speck of light was escaping into the compartment. Asita was extremely close, practically sitting on my stomach, and my legs were scrunched against (what I assumed) were one of her breasts.

"Don't get the wrong idea," she whispered.

"Being in complete darkness with you on top of someone? I bet _no one_ has ever thought of anything but your _lovely_ personality."

I heard her open her mouth to reply, but the door to the room was slammed open.

"We could be a little more discreet, you know," someone shrilled immediately afterwards.

"Why? They can't run anywhere without us seeing or hearing," another person responded.

I could feel Asita's entire body tense and she stopped breathing.

"Yes, but then we give them time to prepare. Do you ever think a hunter has caught an animal by tramping through the woods swinging its weapon to and fro while singing a song?"

"I'm not singing," the partner responded, "I just want to get this over with. I want to find the tributes, kill them, and move on to the next ones."

"You're so impatient babe," the girl laughed.

I heard something slam open and then shut.

"No one in the bureau," the guy called out.

I snickered slightly and Asita pinched my thigh in response. I stopped, not knowing whether it was in her usual snide way or if it was out of fear.

After several minutes, the girl exclaimed, "No one in this room, just like every single other one. Can we please try another floor?"

"Once we are through searching this floor. We have to be thorough."

"You know what else is thorough? Not stomping around like an elephant," the girl snapped as they departed.

Once I thought for sure they were gone, I began to move but Asita held me in place. We sat there for several minutes, waiting in silence.

She slowly pushed open the frame and looked out. She shuffled out and I followed. The two had trashed the room, flipping over almost every piece of furniture.

Asita immediately walked out of the room and I glanced behind me at the supplies still in the compartment. This was the first time she had left me alone with her supplies. She had always made a point of taking them with her if she needed to use the restroom or something. My mind screamed at me to take them and make an escape.

I grabbed both bags and dropped to the floor. Then a painful reminder made itself known through my legs and I collapsed. I let out a groan and laid there while the pain subsided.

Within a minute, Asita was back and she closed the door behind her.

"I went out and shut every door that they had opened in this hallway and the next two over. If they come back, hopefully we will have some warning," she stated as she turned around.

"Are you okay?" she exclaimed and rushed over to me.

"Forgot I was crippled," I joked as I pushed myself into a sitting position.

"You're not crippled," she snapped, "but you can't just leap down, put all your weight on your legs, and expect for it to end up ok."

She let out a frustrated sigh and began to rummage through the backpack, "You snapped some stitches on your right leg, which means I need to redress it."

She finished unwrapping my right leg and began to weave out the broken stitches.

I watched her fuss over my wound, feeling the sting of guilt at the thought of robbing her blind. Here she was, upset and scared and I was just going to make a run for it. That would have been no better than Ace.

"You know, you're quite motherly," I said bluntly.

"Motherly," she laughed loudly, "Are you kidding me? I dislike people in general and don't baby anyone. God, I'm never having children."

"When your basic instinct is to check and take care of my wounds, it means you're considered motherly."

"That's different," she murmured as she wiped blood away, "I'm just repaying the favor. Without you, I'm pretty sure I would have died yesterday."

"You act like a total bitch. Actually, you are a bitch to a lot of people. But, from what you've told me, you're the one who took care of your siblings. You made sure they had clothes to wear and food to eat. You did whatever it took to keep them safe and made sure they didn't end up like all the other orphans in all the other districts."

"And why exactly are you telling me all this?" she sighed as she wrapped the wound back up.

"I'm reminding you that you're not just the girl who sleeps with men to get what she wants. Just because Apollo came in here and flipped over every piece of furniture doesn't change the fact that you're a sister who takes care of her family."

She looked up at me and her eyes looked slightly misty for a second as she said, "Thanks."

"There are eleven of us left. The odds are that you're going to have to deal with him at some point and, when you do, you got to remember what you're fighting for. You can't let whatever he says or you think change your resolve."

Her eyes steeled themselves over as she laughed, "First, we need to make sure you can stand the next time you run across any tribute."

"I can stand," I huffed, "I just can't run very well."

"Oh yeah, standing in one place will really be a great tactic during battle. In fact, I bet the other tribute will be so confused that they'll just start running around you in circles."

"Maybe you can help distract them by breaking a nail or skipping around naked," I snapped back.

Pain shot through my leg as I felt a hard pinch. I jumped slightly and glared at her.

"_Oops_."

* * *

><p><strong>District Two:<strong>

**Apollo's POV:**

"Come look at this," Cami yelled.

I raised my sword and dashed out of the room I was currently inspecting. I raced around the corner and caught the large door right before it shut. I pulled it open and stepped into the room, ready to chase a fleeing tribute.

"Isn't this so _amazing_?"

I let out a groan and put my sword away. Although I had to admit the room was impressive, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.

"I thought we said it was ok to split up as long as we only alerted each other when we needed the other."

"No, we said we would only call out to the other if there was something they needed to see. I thought you needed to see this."

I looked at Cami, searching for her usual smirk. All I saw was awe and curiosity as she gazed around the room.

Well, a room wasn't the word I was looking for. We were currently in a large area that was probably as tall as the entire mansion that we were in. Dark archways cascaded forwards and rows of benches made their way to the front. Windows filled with color lined the sides and there seemed to be pictures in them.

"I didn't know the Gamemakers could make something so beautiful," Cami sighed as she walked between the benches.

"I think it's more creepy than pretty," I muttered as I stepped into a red light.

"We don't have any cathedrals in District One," she commented, "I've only ever seen them in books and old movies."

"You read?"

She scowled at me as she responded, "When I was little I did. In fact, the first things I ever took from other kids were books."

"How precious," I snorted as I took a seat on one of the benches.

"Laugh all you want. I think this is stunning."

She walked up the isle towards the largest window in the front of the cathedral. It was mostly a red and orange background with purple shapes spread throughout it.

"What is that?" I said aloud.

"It looks likes," Cami mumbled as she got closer to it, "Body parts. A man surrounded by different body parts. What the hell…"

"Can we leave now," I grunted, "This place is giving me chills."

"You don't think anyone could be hiding here?" she asked.

"It depends on what you are looking for."

A gravelly voice echoed against the stone walls and I jumped to my feet.

"That's not a tribute," I immediately said, glancing around the room.

"There are many things one can find here. Faith… Hope… Themselves…"

Cami appeared beside me, swords in hand.

"Everything is hidden in the darkness."

Cami tapped my side and pointed towards the front. A figure in a deep violet robe walked out of the shadows and into the light that was streaming in between an archway.

"Sorry, I'm not here to have a spiritual experience," Cami growled as the figure walked into the shadows again.

"This place isn't meant for any set religion. It is simply a place of tranquility where one can make peace. Whether that is with one God, many gods, or themselves is up to the individual."

"Why would anyone want to make peace _here_?" I asked.

"Many find it comforting to do so before…" the figure continued as it lit two torches on both sides of an altar.

"Before?" Cami inquired.

"Before death," the figure finished as it turned towards us.

Suddenly, torches were lit that were hanging on the walls and the entire room brightened.

This entire mansion had running water, electric lights, and not to mention a secret high-tech laboratory beneath it. This room was seriously still using torches?

"You're not going to kill us," Cami hissed as she began to walk up the aisle.

"Of course not," the figure rasped, "Like I said, this is a place of tranquility. I am simply a servant who watches over and helps those find the harmony they seek."

"Oh, so you're saying that screwed up stained glass window has _nothing_ to do with mass murder and _everything_ to do with peace!" Cami laughed.

"Although this place is one open to many beliefs, I still have my own. The one who runs this house can create life. He can take the dead and raise them. He takes the sinful and makes them perfect, on the outside as well as inside."

I followed Cami and stood beside her as she stopped right in front of the altar. The figure was huddled, placing different flowers and plants upon it.

"Oh gosh, I forgot I was talking to a mutt for a minute. A mutt who believes another mutt is god because he can make an army of mutts. This is just too much," Cami ranted.

"If you are going to be so vastly negative and chaotic, I am going to have to ask you to leave this sanctuary."

"Cami," I muttered, "We should just get out of here and keep looking for tributes. We're wasting time."

"Sorry," she snickered as she turned towards me, "I just find it amusing that the Gamemakers wasted money and time making this nut job."

A glint caught my eye as the figure spun around and I shoved Cami to the ground. A knife went flying by where she had been previously standing and I gawked at the figure that stood before me. I couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman, but it was ancient. Lines creased its face and its bones were protruding sharply from its skull.

The only lively thing about it was its dark eyes as it screeched out, "I will not let you defy this place with your hatred!"

As quickly as the torches were lit, they went out again. The room was back to being filled with darkness, except for the light from the stained glass windows.

"We need to get out _now_," I barked as I pulled Cami to her feet.

Another knife flew out of the darkness, this time from where we entered. I dodged it and began to race down the aisle. A flurry of knives erupted from all different directions. The mosaic colors splashed against my vision as I reached the end. A yell of agony sprang from my throat as a knife lodged itself in my arm. I yanked the heavy door open and felt Cami brush past me.

One last knife left the figure's hand as I slammed the door shut.

I slipped to the ground and swiftly yanked the weapon from my body. I gritted my teeth and groaned as I looked at Cami.

"What is your problem!" I yelled, "I know you like to antagonize people but a _mutt is still a mutt_!

Cami felt along the cut that sliced across her entire right cheek. The blood smeared slightly and she looked at it as if it was sweat.

"We're fine," she shrugged as she wiped the blood on her leg.

"Yeah, I know we're fine now," I huffed, "but that was just plain stupid! We could have easily died."

"No we wouldn't have. At least I wouldn't have," she stated.

"Are you-"

"Listen," Cami smirked, "In case you didn't get the memo, I'm this year's victor. Not only have I been through hell and back, but I'm the biggest threat left in this game now that Lucian is dead."

"Do you hear yourself?" I gawked.

Cami let out a laugh as she began to walk down the hallway, "Of course I do. It doesn't matter if the games end in one day or one week. I'm getting out of here alive. I'm untouchable."

I stood up and slowly began to follow behind her as I applied pressure to my wound. If Cami honestly believed that, she was delusional. She sounded just like… Lucian.

It hit me so suddenly I almost tripped over my feet. For the past day I thought Lucian's death hadn't affected Cami in the slightest. It turned out it was almost the opposite. Now that he was dead, she had almost become him. The only difference is that she didn't want to hunt down every tribute.

She just expected them to die, one way or another. I was included in that list. We weren't really allies anymore. If a knife had been hurdling towards me, she wouldn't have shoved me out of the way…

This meant one of two things. That stunt back there was because she thought she was invincible or she wanted that mutt to take care of me for her.

A chill went down my spine as I realized it could very well be both.

* * *

><p><strong>District Six: <strong>

**Adam's POV:**

"No tributes died today," I said as I watched Char start to move.

"I know. The cannon fire would have woken me up," she mumbled as she stretched her limbs.

I gazed into the fire as she began to wake herself up. Today had been what I would call the best day in the arena yet. For the first time, we weren't being chased by Careers, muttations, or even the arena. Today was the first day we hadn't had some sort of life or death situation. All we really did was take turns napping and eating.

Did this count as a vacation? Did they do vacations in the Hunger Games?

Usually, I would have said something of that effect to Char. Usually, I would have been hooking up with some hot girl. Usually…

I sighed with content at the memory and I heard Char stop fussing with the supplies.

"Please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me you did _not_ just orgasm."

I let out a hearty laugh at the thought of doing that with Char standing right behind me.

"No, I always make sure I masturbate when you're not around… Or in a deep sleep."

"That's _disgusting_," Char groaned as she sat down next to me.

"Men have needs, end of story," I shrugged.

"Yes, you've made your needs known ever since you opened your mouth at the Training Center," she laughed.

"Remember when you threated to put your foot so far up my butt you could see it in my stomach," I reminisced.

"Only because you were trying to hit on me just like you did with every girl," she replied.

I laughed again, just enjoying the company. The past few days hadn't been that great between us. It's probably because there has been so much going on and so much panic, but we hadn't been 'us'. I know we hadn't cracked a real joke in forever and I almost felt like we were slipping. We hadn't talked about it, but we were getting closer and closer to the end. I was finding it hard to know where we stood with each other.

When we entered this, it I was this macho guy and she was this pampered tom boy. Now, we were both so different. I found myself thinking before I acted and watching our every move. Char had gone from being taken care of (whether she wanted to admit it or not) to being an equal partner. We were both real contenders in this game and it was scary to think about what would happen when…

"Remember when you made that joke about me and the dead female mutt," I blurted out to stop myself from finishing my train of thought.

"When I told you not to have sex with it?"

"If that had happened today instead of… however many days ago it was; I probably would have had sex with it."

"That's so crude," Char snapped.

"At the very least, I'd feel her up."

Char let out another laugh and I smiled.

"I'm glad we're friends."

"You know, I'm pretty satisfied with it too," she smirked.

I gazed at the floor and watched as the shadows danced across it. As much as I was thinking and joking about sex, it wasn't what I found myself thinking about the _most_. I kept thinking about home. I liked to imagine what my family was doing every second of the day. I tried to imagine them all glued to the television, but sadly I was painfully realistic about it. Both Mom and Dad were always keeping themselves busy. I don't see why that would change just because I was in the Hunger Games. They had both always made it known they knew one of us could get reaped. My oldest brother, Eric, was probably doing something that involved him. Even the two siblings I was close with, Chase and Arianna, were probably trying to watch the absolute minimal. I know that if one of them were in here, I wouldn't be able to take it. There's no way I could just sit and watch for hours on end as they went through this.

I readied myself to ask her what she thought her family was doing, when I heard something. A soft humming sound met my ear. I listened closely and realized it was a merry little tune.

"Who the hell hums in the Hunger Games?" I asked, looking at Char.

She looked at me in confusion, but realization colored her face when she heard it as well.

"Hide?" she asked.

I nodded and stood up. We quickly began to pack our supplies and I attached the claws to my hands. I swung a pack over my shoulder and Char picked up the metal ball.

Suddenly, the doors flew open. I looked in the archway and saw a small child standing there.

"I found you!" she squealed.

I felt my feet lift of the floor and I yelled in surprise, "Wha-"

Blinding pain spread through my body as I heard the little girl trill, "Tag!"

Char let out a scream and my head was slammed into the ceiling. I looked down and saw the little girl was giggling as she made certain hand motions.

"The hands!" I managed to groan.

Char swiftly began to spin her rope around and flicked it towards the girl. It encircled one of her arms and she gave a hard pull. The girl's arm pulled away and I felt the pain leave as I plummeted to the ground. I screamed in agony when I hit the floor as the pain became almost unbearable.

I looked up and saw a chair was thrown straight at Char, hitting her in the head. I tried to stand up, but the pain was immobilizing if I even attempted to move my arms.

I saw the girl was standing above me now, her brows furrowed.

"I'm bored with this game," she stated.

"Great," I gasped.

I knew Char and I weren't going to catch a break. I should never have even thought that today would be peaceful and relaxing.

"Oh I know!" she squealed, "We should have a tea party! I love tea parties!"

She began to prance away as she sang, "I'll make the invitations and everyone can dress up! All my new playmates can come! Oh, it will be so much fun!"

I heard the door click shut and I called out, "Char?"

"I'm here," she replied as she stumbled towards me.

"I can't get up," I heard myself whimper, "My arms…"

"Dislocated," she interrupted, "I've seen it happen before in District Ten. This is going to hurt."

"Just do it," I gritted.

I shut my eyes and let the pain wash over me as she gripped my left arm. Without even counting down, she forced my bones back to the appropriate places and I involuntarily barked. I heard her move over to my right side. She barely touched the arm and it felt like a thousand needles were being stabbed into my body.

"Stop," I gasped, overcome by the sudden pain.

"This isn't right," she immediately said, "It's not dislocated but…"

I used my injured, but still functional, arm to prop myself up against an end table. I struggled to stay conscious as my right arm flopped lazily to my side. Char was right, my arm wasn't dislocated. Instead, it was twisted at such an angle that my elbow was pointed inwards slightly.

"She broke it, somewhere in this region," I murmured, motioning to the area between my elbow and shoulder.

"What do we do?" Char asked. I could hear the panic rising in her voice.

"We make a sling and put my arm in it," I stated, "Can you make one?"

"Yes… I think I can," she replied shakily as she grappled at our knapsack.

I worked through the pain to pull my zipper down. I slowly extracted my broken arm from the sleeve of the suit, groaning every second of the process.

"Use the sleeve," I murmured as I watched shadows dance across my eyes.

I could feel her cutting away at the fabric and heard the ripping of something else. After a few minutes, Char lightly moved my broken arm into her makeshift sling.

"You're shaking," I groaned as she lifted me onto a nearby couch, "and bleeding."

She raised her hand to her scalp and felt her wound.

"Just a scratch," she replied as she forced a laugh.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't meet my gaze.

"It's my turn to take watch. Go to sleep before you pass out from the pain."

"Either way I'll be out. Plus, they only hurt when I, you know, _use_ them," I joked.

She slinked over to the fire and sat down. My thoughts were clouded and I felt exhausted after that incident. For some reason, I couldn't grasp why Char was panicking. It seemed stupid to me because I was fine.

Then I got it. I wasn't fine. I was surprised I hadn't realized it the second I hit the ground. There were eleven tributes left. I couldn't move one arm and the other was barely functional. I couldn't fight, eat, or even move properly by myself. Char was panicking because, in the flick of a wrist, I was useless. I went from her ally to her liability in seconds.

Before I could truly comprehend my own thoughts, another wave of exhaustion crashed into me. Panic was rising up, filling every part of me. My mind flitted to home and how I was supposed to get there. How was I supposed to do _anything_? The panic turned into darkness.

Then the nothingness swallowed me whole.

* * *

><p><strong>District Three:<strong>

**Valhalla's POV:**

"Interesting," I whispered as I examined the creature before me.

Late this afternoon, one of my traps was set off. I left the inner room in the attic and found some sort of doll caught in a tangle of wires. It looked at me with empty, glass eyes as I cut it down. However, as soon as it was free, it sprang to life and attempted to escape. It ran into another trap and we went through the same scenario. However, this time, when it hit the floor I grabbed both of its arms and dragged it to the back room. I strapped it down onto a table and have been taking it apart ever since.

I placed its right arm back on the table and stepped towards the window. In the time passing since I exacted my revenge on Apollo, I had all but disappeared from the games. I spent days wandering the underground laboratory, minding my own business for the most part. I had made it out with an excess amount of time and missed whatever massacre occurred. I searched the mansion and made a crude layout of it. I used this layout to determine the safest place to create a base of operations and located this attic space. I then created several traps and waited, depleting almost all of my supplies as the days went by.

I gazed out the window and spotted the attic space across the courtyard. Pink curtains hung from it and I could see a small figure dancing about.

There seemed to be some sort of little girl who resided in this manor. Whether she was a doll or not I had not deducted, but it did not matter. She was not a tribute so she was not my concern.

I glanced at the doll that was now in pieces. She had no obvious wiring or mechanics. Slicing through her shell was just cutting up wood. It was as if she worked by magic.

That was impossible and illogical, but I could not find anything indicating she was robotic or organic. She was, in all actuality, a life-size wooden doll that could move.

I walked to the entrance of the small room and pushed the door open slightly. I squeezed through the doorway and between two wooden crates. I swiftly collected the remaining wire from the used traps and brought it back with me into my shelter.

"I wish you could talk," I stated as I shut the door behind me, "Then I could ask you questions."

The doll's head lolled slightly towards me. No emotion was spread across its face.

"Would you like to hear something amusing?" I asked.

I didn't wait for a response as I continued, "Before I entered these games, I was looking forward to toying with the tributes. Psychological warfare has always been my game, but I was excited to be able to inflict physical harm. I wanted to know how they would respond to both stimuli at the same time. It was simply an experiment I would conduct on my way to victory."

The doll gazed at me with a look that told me it was not amused.

"I haven't gotten to it yet," I scolded as I began carving a doodle into the table with a knife.

"The amusing part is I have not conducted this experiment on a single person. I used psychological attacks on several tributes. I used it on Devon, and therefore Ruth, before the games even started. I used it on almost every Career. I even used it on Admyer and Winnifred to make sure they would not attack me. However, even with all this manipulation and harm, I did not once inflict any physical wound to any tribute myself. Unless you count the trap that killed Oceana, but I didn't even get to talk to her before that happened."

I picked up the doll's leg and began to saw through it as I stated, "Isn't that most amusing, Miss Dolly?"

Miss Dolly gazed at me in what I assumed was confusion, although I could not tell since her face was painted on.

"I have bestowed you with the name Miss Dolly. I find it quite fitting."

"You know," I continued, "We have several factors in common. We both do not show emotion. We both do not feel emotion. We're both above that."

I examined the severed leg, still seeing no circuitry.

"You are obviously wondering why I have not sliced your head open to find an electrical system. The reasoning is that if your main processor is in your skull, you still need to be able to communicate with your limbs. Perhaps it is in your torso."

I stepped away from the table and moved to the window again.

"You will most likely look down on me for saying this, but it is nice to have someone to talk to. Oddly enough, I have been feeling lonely since I left the Careers. Even after the death of Thomas, the Careers were adequate when it came to socializing. That and I was extremely focused on ruining Apollo."

I turned towards Miss Dolly and smiled, "I know I broke him, just like he broke me. But, do not worry, I'm fixed. Thomas, he brought out a side of me that was best left dormant. After leaving the Careers, I thought through the emotions I was feeling and they dissipated. I am fully back to who I was before I met Thomas."

I walked back to Miss Dolly and began to play with her chestnut hair.

"Which means I can conduct my experiment. Thomas was a skilled inventor and had a passion for experiments and research. Even though he never had the heart to perform my experiments himself, he understands some things need to be done. Plus, it doesn't hurt knowing I'm going to enjoy it."

I slowly began to saw along Miss Dolly's hairline.

"Apollo will be hunting me down for revenge. As will Leith, Ruth, and Asita. Cami will look for me because she dislikes me and the two from five will come find me because they are curious creatures."

I let out a small cackle as I forced back her scalp, "I believe that gives me plenty of test subjects. Test subjects who will walk into my traps blindly. Oh, and do not fret. If they do not find me, I will certainly find them."

I examined her skull, disappointed by the lack of wiring.

Darkness cloaked the room as a cloud covered the moon. Wherever they go, I will be waiting. The second they step into the dark, they will be trapped.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! So here's the next chapter, I really hope you enjoy it :D I know, no deaths but I decided to take these first two chapters to really make sure everyone knew how the tributes were doing and where they were at after that massacre. Don't worry, blood will be flying pretty soon ;) which actually makes me really sad, because at this point I don't want anyone to die ever xD would you guys be upset if we had eleven victors this year xD <strong>

**Anyways, jot down a review if you would be so kind to and I'll see you soon!**

**Europa**


	45. Day Eleven: Part One: The Tea Party

**Day Eleven: The Tea Party**

**Part One:**

**District Twelve:**

**Ruth's POV:**

"Well, this is creepy," I murmured as I pointed down the hall.

Two faceless figures slinked towards us. One was mid-sized and wearing a silver, frilly dress. The other was fairly tall and had on an old-fashioned dress suit. Both of us ducked into a nearby room filled with crates and waited.

"Hopefully they didn't see-" Leith mumbled.

"They don't have eyes," I interjected.

Leith gave me that look that screamed '_What did I tell you about interrupting_?'

"Just saying," I grumbled as I slumped onto a large box.

Several seconds later, the door swung open and I grabbed my sword. The two figures, now much closer, were clearly wooden. In fact, their hands appeared to just be wooden stumps and they had no visible features worth noting. They both collapsed to the ground and ceased to move.

"Uh…" I stated in shock, "Is that it? No fight to the death?"

Leith propped the mannequins up against the door and examined them. He began rifling through the many pockets in the suit jacket and vest. I swiftly spied a small, folded piece of paper stuck to the smaller mannequin's hand. I ripped it away and began to read it.

_Dear Madam Ruth,_

_ You and Monsieur Leith are both formally invited to Ruby's Tea Party! It will be at 10 o'clock sharp! The perfect time for brunch I have sent your formal attire attached to these dummies and I know you'll look great in them! Every one of my new playmates are invited so I expect you two to be on your best behavior! You need to set an example _

_ Love, Ruby 3_

_ P.S. I have a special spot saved next to me for you Ruth Don't tell anyone, but you're my favorite!_

_ P.S.S. Leith gets to sit on the other side of me! If Leith asks why, tell him it's because he's your friend…_

_ P.S.S.S. The real reason is because I think he's really cute 3 3 3_

"It's an invitation from Ruby," I commented.

"Who's Ruby?"

"Our little friend from yesterday," I stated as I handed him the letter, "she wrote it in crayon."

Leith read through it and gagged slightly as he responded, "Are you trying to tell me that… that a mutt has a crush on me!"

"What can I say, you drive the girls wild," I joked as I began to remove the dress from the dummy's body.

"She threw me against a wall!"

"She must like it rough," I laughed.

"She's, at most, eight!"

"If we want to get technical, she's most likely less than a year old."

I held up the silver dress and admired it slightly. I wasn't one for fashion and the dress looked like it came out of a fairy tale it seemed so old, but it was Capitol material.

"Hopefully it's a good thing she likes us," he replied as he changed the subject, "Or should I say likes you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday. If it wasn't for you she probably would have ended up killing me. I never expected you to be good with children."

I shrugged as I began to peel off my jumpsuit. After eleven days of use, it was tattered and stained. It almost felt like scraping off a layer of skin.

"Why is that?" he asked, showing candid interest.

"Aren't you going to turn around?" I snapped as I pulled the fabric down past my waist. He hastily rotated and stumbled over a crate.

I stripped off my undergarments as I sighed, "I had a younger sister."

"Had?"

"Did I stutter?" I snapped again as I felt the bitterness and anger begin to boil in my stomach.

He stayed silent and I began trying to figure out how to get into the tight, lacy undergarments that came with the dress. Slowly, the horrible feelings began to wash away and I was left feeling calm again.

I just couldn't do it anymore.

Ever since I was old enough to think for myself, I was filled with hatred. Before my sister's death, I hated District Twelve. I was horrified as I watched people steal, starve, and die everywhere. I was furious that the Capitol did this to the people they were _supposed_ to be governing, and I was disgusted with the people in my district for causing so much harm to each other. Surprisingly enough, even with the fury building, I was still kind. I was sweet. I was _good_.

Then my little sister, the most pure and innocent person I knew, was killed. That event then awakened and unleashed every single ounce of anger and pure horror in my body. I spent the next handful of _years_ despising hoards of people. I hated every single citizen in the Capitol and the Career Districts. I shunned the Hunters and the few people in my district who trained for the Hunger Games. I hated anyone I saw as morally corrupt, even in the smallest ways.

Worst of all, I secretly loathed myself. I _detested_ myself for not being there to save her. Though I never admitted it, I hated that I was still alive when she deserved to be here more than I ever could.

That's why I was so willing to dive headfirst into the Hunger Games. It wasn't just that I wanted to kill the Careers for revenge. It was because, unlike my family, I couldn't move from her death. To move on, I needed justice and revenge. I desired to _kill_ other human beings, which made me just as bad as the careers.

I was willing to volunteer for the Hunger Games because I thought, deep down inside, that I deserved to die.

Tears streamed down my face and I felt them drip onto my bare feet.

"You aren't done yet?" Leith asked.

"I can't get this stupid thing on," I whined as I tried to lace the strings on the back of my undergarment.

I heard him walk over and felt him grab my hands, "It's because you need someone to tighten it. You can't do this."

_You can't do this._

I knew he was talking about putting on this stupid dress, but it rang true for my emotions. I couldn't be filled with this hatred anymore. I couldn't walk around and live like a ticking time bomb. I couldn't stand around and deem who fit to live or die. Until two days ago, I would have thought Leith deserved to die just because he volunteered for this. Now, I was swiftly realizing there was a grey area. He was a typical Career in every single aspect, except for the fact he let a District Twelve girl like me tag along. Any other Career would have struck me down the second I started following them around.

"You know, I used to think the Hunger Games were a good thing," I laughed shakily; "I thought that, in the scheme of things, it rid the world of bad people."

"I spent my whole life training for them, so I guess I thought they were a good thing too," he stated as he finished lacing it up.

"You guess?"

"I just did what I was told to do. I never asked why."

He handed me the dress and asked, "Were you crying?"

I wiped the tears from my face and began to slip into the dress.

"I'm just tired of being so angry and pushing everyone away. I'm tired of putting up walls and being afraid to love people because they might turn out to be horrible or die."

"You picked a great time and place to come to this realization," he chuckled as he finished lacing up the dress.

A genuine laugh escaped my lips and my stomach began to ache from the intensity of it.

"I'm just saying that you might want to hang on to a little bit of that anger for a while longer. There's still ten people standing in the way of you and getting out of here."

"Truer words were never spoken," I smiled as I threw my supplies over my shoulder.

Suddenly, the two wooden mannequins were lifted to their feet. They walked to the doorway and turned around; waiting for us to follow.

I glanced at Leith and put my arm through his as I spoke, "Now, _Monsieur_ _Leith_, I believe there is a tea party you need to escort me to."

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

"Brown is such a homely color," I sighed as we followed the faceless figures.

"Only you would be worried about how your dress looked when we're walking to our doom."

"We're going to a _party _with _tea _and _food._ What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could all die," Adam huffed.

"Exactly."

I continued to keep stride with the figures, avoiding Adam's gaze. Ever since the… attack I couldn't even look at him. Every time I even glanced at either of his arms I was hit with a wave of guilt. Adam was injured so severely because of _me_. If I had been quicker and defended him, he wouldn't have been hurt. Sure, he would have hit the ground, but there's no way the little brat would have had time to mangle his arms like that!

I was disgusted with myself for being so weak minded. I seemed to have only two brain functions, each on the opposite ends of the spectrum, when it came to life-or-death situations. Function 'A' was being rash and rushing into it headfirst. Function 'B' was freezing and not having the ability to act until someone told me exactly what to do. Both of these not only endangered my life, but also Adam's.

And now look at him.

So now, after working together for eleven days, I had two options. I could leave him to fend for himself or I could protect him.

One was easy and one was difficult.

Both left me with an uneasy, guilty feeling deep in my gut.

The figures stopped on either side of a narrow staircase and waited. I could see that there were already several of them standing in a line.

"Up we go," I commanded as I grabbed the skirt of my plain, brown dress. I used my other hand to grip the large, wool shawl wrapped around my bare shoulders.

I walked up each step shakily, not used to heels. I steadied myself against the railing and made it to the top. I walked through the door and observed the area around me.

The room was large and obviously that of a small girl's. I could tell that furniture had been pushed to the edges of the rooms to fit a rather large table. Around it were many seats. Some were empty, while others had life-sized dolls sitting in them. I noticed teapots and an assortment of pastries were spread across the table.

"I'm so glad you could make it," A voice chimed.

I could see the small child, Ruby, sitting at the far end of the table. She waved and sang, "There are place cards on each plate telling you who sits where! If you have any sharp toys, just lay them across the wall."

I glanced down at the coil of rope I was holding. Rope was definitely not a sharp toy.

Still, I felt Adam hand me his claw weapons and a knife. I strutted over to a nearby glass showcase and set them on the middle shelf. I glanced at the small, china dolls and tried not to be freaked out. No child should have this many dolls.

I watched Adam ungracefully plop into a chair nearest where we came in. I walked over to him and glanced at the place card next to him.

_Asita_

"Not me?" I asked to no one particular.

"You're over here!" she sang and pointed to a chair nearby her.

I opened my mouth to argue, but promptly remembered how our last encounter went. I finally noticed the other several tributes sitting in the room. Apollo was seated next to a beautiful doll with golden blonde curls. He glanced at me and I flinched when I saw his blind eye. Cami was opposite of him, in a bright yellow dress, and was nibbling on a biscuit in a surprisingly dainty way.

I walked along the table, reading the names. I passed Apollo and found that I was seated to the right of him. He moved for a second, as if to get up, but then folded his arms.

What, was he going to get up and pull it out for me?

I chuckled accidently at the thought of it and he glared at me again. I wiped the small smirk from my face and sat down in seat.

The waiting began.

Ruby smiled at each one of us and appeared to be giddy with excitement. Cami snacked on her one biscuit and I kept my hands folded in my lap.

I noticed Apollo tense at my side and looked towards the door. In walked the girl from District Three, a boy I couldn't quite place, and Asita. Asita was dressed in a stunning red dress while the smaller girl was in a dark green one.

Why did everyone get such nice colors and I got _brown_.

I could see Apollo clenching his fist and heard the grinding of his teeth. Ruby spoke the same thing she said to Adam and me when we entered and the three tributes made their way to their seats. Asita brushed her hair back with her hand and scooted next to Adam. The small girl took a seat between two dolls and the boy was seated down near Adam as well.

I took notice of the large, male doll to my right. He was extremely life-like, just like the rest of the dolls.

My train of thought quickly disappeared when I heard Cami call out, "Apollo, isn't Asita looking gorgeous as always? Red is truly her color."

The tension in the air was palpable and I just stared at the rope in my lap.

Before anyone could comment, more tributes walked through the door. The wolf-like smirk disappeared from Cami's face as the two tributes from five entered. The girl took a seat somewhere on my end of the table while the boy was forced to sit right next to Cami.

The tension continued to deepen and spiral out of control as the last two tributes, Ruth and Leith, entered.

"Always save the best for last!" Ruby cheered as she began to hop up and down in her seat.

Ruth's laugh echoed along the room, as if this was a friendly gathering, and she smiled at the child.

"Here, here!" the girl sang as she patted the chairs on either side of her.

"Hey, what about their weapons?" Cami squabbled as they began to make their way around the table.

"I know they won't cause any trouble! They're my favorite friends, and friends never ruin another friend's tea party!"

"That's bull-"

"If you behave, you can have your toys back," Ruby spoke, "Plus, why would you need them unless you were going to cause trouble?"

"Cami, what did we talk about when it came to arguing with mutts," Apollo growled intensely.

Cami scowled and shifted slightly in her seat.

"What's a mutt? I've been hearing that word a lot lately?" Ruby asked.

"It's a term of endearment." Ruth interjected as she sat on the opposite side of the male doll next to me.

"Since when did you decide to get all friendly with a _mutt_," Cami smiled viciously.

"Since I found out she was one of the sweetest little girls that ever blessed this planet," Ruth spoke through her teeth, "so shut it."

The silence that followed was so quiet that I thought for sure everyone could hear my heart beating. I wanted to get up and run away. I wanted to scream or yell or do _something_.

"I don't understand why you're all so somber," Ruby giggled, "It's a tea party! Talk amongst yourselves! Pass the teapot around the table too, please!"

"This is ridiculous," Apollo grumbled.

"Excuse me…" Ruby's voice rang out sharply.

Ruby's face was devoid of all emotion except malice and she was glaring straight at Apollo. Her eyes looked darker than even when she 'played' with Adam and me. That was the difference. Even when she was 'playing' or throwing a fit, she didn't appear to be evil. Right now, she looked like she was ready to unleash all kinds of torture.

"Don't forget to pour tea for my dollies and, most of all, be polite!" Ruby chimed, changing her attitude in the snap of a finger.

I hear a soft murmur begin to span across the room, everyone suddenly on edge.

"How are you doing?" Apollo asked with visibly no interest.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Just dandy."

I watched as the ornate teapot circled towards us as I responded, "I bet the tea will be good. She seems to take her tea parties very seriously."

"You don't say?" Apollo retorted as he poured himself a small cup and began to pour mine as well.

"Would you mind grabbing me that star-shaped food thingy?" I pointed as I grabbed the teapot from him.

"Not at all."

I began to pass the teapot to Ruth when I remembered I needed to pour tea for the doll next to me. I grabbed the small cup in front of him and began to pour slowly. As I poured, I looked at his clothes. They were well-made, even seemed to be hand stitched at some parts. I set the pot down and moved to put the cup in his hands.

I grabbed his arm and pulled it upwards.

"Would you please pass the teapot to me? Ruby is getting impatient," I heard Ruth distantly say.

I found that I couldn't move as I stared at the doll's wrist.

It had no hand. What kind of doll had no hand?

My gaze traveled up his body and I peered under his hat. His face was familiar and his bone structure was sharp. The skin was pulled tight and a small smile was permanently etched into his expression. His cold, honey brown eyes flicked towards me and a scream shattered through the air.

I reflexively shoved myself away from the doll and tumbled to the ground. I covered my mouth, realizing that the shriek had come from me, and shuffled to my feet.

Half the people in the room were looking at me while the other half was glued to Ruby.

"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked, seemingly concerned.

"That doll…" I pointed.

Ruth began to examine it as Ruby replied, "It's my newest! I love him so much! Don't you, Ruth?"

"That doll," I began again, "Is the boy from District Thirteen."

* * *

><p><strong>District Three:<strong>

**Valhalla's POV:**

Ruby quirked her head to the side as she asked, "Where's that?"

"Alexei?" Ruth gasped.

"I like to call him Alex," Ruby smiled as she sipped her tea, "You see… He came here a couple days before you did! But… he didn't want to play with me. It made me really upset and then he broke one of my dolls! And I just… I just got so angry…"

Ruby shivered slightly but swiftly perked up again as she rang out, "But Daddy fixed him! He made him all new and pretty again! Although, we couldn't find that pesky hand of his…"

I seized a small chocolate pastry and tore a piece off. I placed it in my mouth and began to chew. I attempted to fathom why everyone was being shocked into silence so often today. Did they not realize by now that this is the Hunger Games? Does any of this really surprise them?

A small girl with telekinetic powers has a father who takes the body parts of humans and creates perfect 'dolls' out of them for his lovely daughter. She obviously was one of his experiments gone awry and cannot handle the powers given to her, hence why she has emotional breakdowns. Not to mention these 'dolls' that everyone are so freaked out about are just being controlled by this little girl's mind. And you know who is controlling that? The Gamemakers.

Really, this is simply child's play and everyone seems to be acting like we're in some classic horror movie.

"Is he... Alive, sweetie?" Ruth forced out through a smile as she stroked the girl's hair.

"Alive? All of my dolls are alive. They're my playmates, just like you!"

As she said this, the dolls around the table stood up. They began to move away from us and towards Ruby.

I finished off my pastry and reached out for another.

"We're not a bunch of dolls that you can play with," Cami growled.

"Yes you are," Ruby frowned, "Why else would you do always do what I want?"

"Listen, little girl, there's something here that you've failed to realize. We have our own game to play. You like games, right?"

"I do love games! What game are you playing?"

"The game is simple," Cami smirked, "I live and everyone else dies. Just like this!"

Cami snapped her hand around Admyer's neck and grabbed a butter knife from the table. She held it against Admyer's jugular vein, but froze when someone else stood up. I looked across the table to see Winnifred with her bow pointed straight at Cami.

Not even a quiver went through Winnifred's small frame.

"Well look at you," Cami sneered, "All grown up."

"Put down the knife or I shoot."

"Did everyone get to keep their weapons but me?" she complained

I inspected Winnifred, shocked to see she did mean it. Her stance was firm and her eyes were devoid of any fear. They were empty of any emotion in all actuality.

"You're going to put an arrow through me like you did Lucian?" Cami laughed, "I'm just making a fair trade. An ally for an ally."

I glanced around like a small bird, trying to see if anyone else was surprised that _Winnifred_ had murdered _Lucian_. I seemed to be the only one who was out of 'the loop'.

As some would say, 'well this is awkward'.

"Try. Me." Winnifred spat as she drew her string back even farther.

"So you're now losing the game, right?" Ruby asked, "Since you're technically on the brink of being killed."

I was surprised to see that Ruby was the calmest out of anyone. For some reason, she wasn't angry that her tea party was being interrupted. She seemed more intrigued than anything.

Just like a child who made two toys fight each other.

I decided to take a note from Ruby's book and sipped at my tea. I was rapidly realizing that now was not the time to draw attention to myself in any way. I may have come slightly prepared in case Apollo tried to kill me, but I knew I was no match for a room full of tributes and an angry muttation.

"Fine, you take him," Cami yelled.

She slammed the knife down and grabbed Admyer with her other hand. She then heaved him onto the table and shoved him across it. The crash of breaking china and silverware met my ears and Admyer slid right off the end onto Winnifred's feet.

"You broke my tea set."

This time a chill even went down my spine as Ruby stood up.

"_You broke my tea set_!"

Ruby let out a scream and dolls around the room sprang to life.

The entire room turned into chaos.

The dolls closed-in on Cami while the tributes made a scramble for their weapons. I hurriedly grabbed an armful of nearby pastries and began to make my way towards the exit. I saw Apollo trying to fight his way through the hoard of dolls to Asita while she and Hawk collected scattered food.

However, soon I was being pushed to and fro by dolls. Some, no bigger than my hand, clung to my legs while others were pulling at my hair. I grabbed a small roll of bread and began to beat the dolls from my leg. I watched as their heads cracked or their arms broke off. I stepped on one for good measure and found myself tackled onto the nearby giant bed.

I looked up and saw Leith was on top of me.

"I've been waiting for this for days," he hissed, "This is for Oceana."

He raised his spear and my heart skipped a beat. Swiftly, I thrusted my body to the right and placed the roll where my head had been. The spearhead sank into it and I grappled in one of the folds in my dress.

"I was saving this for Apollo since I thought he would be the first one to attack me," I explained hurriedly, "but it'll work for you too."

He ripped the spear out of the bread and I uncorked the hidden bottle. I hurriedly splashed it in his eyes and heard him scream in agony. I used his sudden pain to squirm out from under him, but I felt a stinging soreness as a few drops of the acid hit my arm.

I managed to get out from underneath him and I shoved him to the floor. He laid there with his hands covering his face and I could not help but laugh slightly.

"It is slightly ironic. You were avenging your ally who got acid poured on her head and now the same thing has happened to you."

I examined the room as I collected the food I had dropped. It seemed that it was a free-for-all. Most of the dolls were swarming Cami and Apollo, but I could make out the girl from District Ten fighting Alexei. Her partner was nowhere to be seen and the remaining tributes were collecting scattered pastries. I watched as Ruth struggled through the crowd with a look of pure hatred on her face.

I slipped to the floor and began to sprint towards the exit with the food I had managed to collect.

The acid would not kill him, sadly, but I already knew I had sealed his fate.

What chances does a Career have without his sight?

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Cami's POV:**

I fought my way through dolls, weaving between bodies and yanking off arms as I went. I tried to spy the two runts from District Five as I brawled, but they seemed to have disappeared. I vented my anger in a sudden screech and knocked down several more dolls in a final push.

I broke through the crowd and leapt to my weapons. I gripped the spear on top of the pile and whirled around. I lobbed off the head of a doll and watched it collide with a crowd of smaller ones. I used one of my knives and cut a long slit through the bottom of my dress; giving me much needed leg movement. I hacked away a large portion of the bottom of my dress before another doll came towards me.

I swiftly grabbed its hair and rammed it into a nearby armoire. It broke through the doors and into a pile of dresses. I strapped the remaining weapons to my body and scanned the room once more for my targets.

Apparently, vengeance would have to wait for another day.

I dashed through the room, jumping over different bits and pieces of broken dolls. I noticed that the dolls were slowly becoming less aggressive and Ruby appeared to be calming down. That was good news for everyone else and horrible news for me. I had feeling once she regained her composure she would be able to focus whatever power she had left.

And she would absolutely be focusing it straight at me.

Suddenly, my feet flew out from under me and my jaw collided with the ground.

I propped myself up and saw I had stumbled over the boy from District Six. His chair must have been shoved over sometime during the scuffle. He was now trapped under not only it but a limp, bulky marionette. Pure terror flashed through his eyes when he saw me and he began to struggle even harder to free himself. He continuously grunted and hissed in pain with every effort.

"What's the matter? Can't run away like all the other little rats?" I cackled as I stood up.

"Cami, we need to go!"

I jumped when I heard Apollo right next to me and I felt him yank my arm.

"Go? But shouldn't we help this poor, defenseless tribute? His ally seems too busy."

"Cami! The mutt is back in action!"

I glanced over to see Ruby running towards Leith who was slumped against Ruth near the corner of the room. The girl from ten was just about to finish off Alexei (again) with her rope tightly reined around his neck.

A smile crept along my face as I put my spear away and began to spin one of my swords.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want my help?" I smirked at the boy.

"Go to hell," he mustered as he resisted one final time.

With that, I drove my sword into his neck and heard a deafening crack. A cannon shot rang out and I put more pressure on the hilt of the sword. I heard the neck snap again and his head began to roll forward slightly.

Just as the girl from ten began to get up, I raised my foot back and yelled, "Heads up!"

I put full force behind my kick and sent his head flying straight at her. It hit her right in the stomach and she caught it reflexively.

I let out a high-pitched squeal as I saw her look down at it. She dropped it with an ear-piercing scream and I couldn't contain the cackle of mischief from springing forth.

It was just like when Silena Stick-Up-her-Ass opened the front door to see her dead kitten lying across the doormat.

"Go! Now!" Apollo cried as he pulled me away from the scene. I followed him out the door, stealing one last glance back at the girl. She was wiping her hands furiously on her dress and I could see a pool of vomit around her feet.

I almost tumbled down the stairs but Apollo held me steady as we turned the corner. We ran down the hallway, following a small trail of blood.

"Who's do you think it is?" I asked in between gasps.

"Does it matter at this point?"

It led down a flight of stairs and into a small sitting area. The trail led out another door and into a small corridor. I began to follow it further when I was shoved down into a couch.

"What was _that_?" Apollo hissed.

I brushed my short hair away from my face and observed Apollo. Sweat was running all over the place and rage colored his face. He was breathing heavily and his entire body was shaking.

"Calm down, babe."

"_Calm_ _down_! Not only did you just piss off _another_ mutt and almost got us killed _again,_ but you kicked a guy's head like it was a ball!"

"I know," I laughed, "and did you see his ally's face! It was priceless! I wish we had enough time to get her too, though. Hopefully Leith will pick up the slack."

"You thought that was funny!"

"Didn't you?"

"No!" he yelled, "I did not!"

"Come on," I sighed as I stood up, "Don't tell that if that was Asita or Valhalla you wouldn't have done the same. Find some small way to degrade them or crush their spirit."

"That's different," he jeered, "That-"

"How?" I questioned, "How the hell would that be different! Because you _know_ them or they did something to you? That means nothing!"

"That means everything! At least then there's some justice behind-"

"When will you get this idea of 'righteous revenge' out of your head? Don't you get it yet? This is just a show for _entertainment_. Right now, in this place, we aren't people. We're just pieces in a game. Every player I kill, I try to do it in a way that will make the people that this whole thing is for happy. If I make them happy, I get to go home. If I don't make them happy, I'm more likely to die."

Apollo just stared at me in complete astonishment.

"Why do you think neither of us has died because of the Gamemakers yet? You think it's because _they_ like us or we've just gotten lucky? No, babe, you're wrong. We're still alive because the Capitol wants to see us in action. They want to see you get your 'revenge' on Asita and they want to see what _fucked_ _up, twisted way _I can torment the next the tribute_!_"

"That logic… that logic is warped."

"No it's not!" I yelled, "Memory Summit went flipping psycho after her love interest died and _she_ won. Ethan Rowe was a strong, silent Career who could tear anyone to pieces and _he_ won. Rouge Lockett was a beautiful, ice _bitch_ that ended up killing more tributes than anyone has ever killed before because of the Quarter Quell and _she_ won. So why can't Camilla Stark manipulate the Career Pack, terrorize the remaining tributes, slaughter her competition and win the Hunger Games?"

I felt myself on the verge of tears and fluttered my eyes furiously.

"You're forgetting one thing. They all left the arena somewhat human. You won't."

I took in a shaky breath and stood up, "You know what? I know I'm right. I know that what I'm doing is keeping me safe from the Gamemakers for now. That just leaves the tributes and I know for a _fact_ I can keep myself safe from them… Without you."

I raised my sword and Apollo's eyes widened slightly as he growled, "You aren't serious."

"Dead," I barked, "I just kept you around for a safety net. I don't _need_ you like you need me."

I sliced the remaining fabric of my dress away, just leaving a small skirt. I quickly charged and he blocked my fierce attack easily. He used his other hand to try to grab my wrist but I elbowed him the shoulder; sending him stumbling back.

There were only two remaining careers. I could outwit and outmaneuver Leith. Apollo was a different story. We were around the same height and stature. We both relied on melee weapons and our agility in fights. He was my closest mirror match in battle out of all the tributes who entered these games. I knew that the first day of training. I was hoping Asita would take care of him eventually or the arena would work its magic.

Now it just came down to this.

I continued to attack, deciding that aggression was my best ally in this fight. Apollo's one weakness was that eye of his. It threw off his balance, perception, and movement at times. One slip up and he was done.

I brought the blade down repeatedly, forcing him nearer and nearer to the wall. I faked right and used my left knee to bash him the gut. I heard him groan and he dropped his defense slightly. I slashed my sword down towards his right arm, but he ducked out of the way. He then grabbed my arm and twisted it so that my blade clattered to the ground.

"I should have done this as soon as we got into the arena, "Apollo grunted.

I watched as he rammed his sword towards me. I swiftly jumped off the ground and moved my legs up. I arched my back and used the wall as a springboard. The sword narrowly missed and I shoved off the wall. The momentum forced us both to the floor, but I could feel something sharp sink into the back of my hip.

I rolled off of the sword and grabbed the handle of it. I whipped it through the air and felt it graze something.

Apollo howled in pain and I tried to regain my composure. The wound in my side wasn't deep, but I knew it was going to restrict my movement. I tried to stand up but I felt Apollo jump onto my chest.

A slash ran across his face and I felt several drops of blood land on mine.

"Aw, we match. How cute," I wheezed as he wrenched the sword from my hand.

"You're dead. We both knew I was the better fighter," He gasped.

"I'll agree to disagree," I smirked, "but what you're forgetting is that _I'm more flexible_."

I used all the momentum I could gather to kick up my legs. His precarious position faltered at the sudden lurch and he tumbled over me. His crotch was now completely on my face and I bit down as hard as I could.

I heard him yelp with pain as he toppled off of me. I rolled to the side and grabbed one of the spears on my back. I forced myself to my knees and jabbed my weapon forward. I felt it make contact and smiled.

Apollo looked at me, shocked, as the spear went through his right forearm.

I yanked it away and watched him fall to the floor in agony. I stabbed it in the same exact place again and heard him shout even louder.

"You lost," I chimed as cut his knapsack from his body. I also removed his extra sword and knife.

I yanked the spear out and kicked him so hard he rolled several feet away. I then kicked his sword to him and smiled.

"Now go."

"What?" he gasped.

"As much as would like to watch you squirm, I like being right even more. I want you to take that sword, nothing else, and follow that blood trail. I want you to see that the Gamemakers are going to lead you right to Asita now that I'm done with you. Then, when you've gotten your 'revenge' and the _Capitol_ is done with you too, I want you to see that I was right. You're only being kept around if you're being amusing. And you, Apollo, are one of the most _boring_ people I've ever met."

Without another word, I walked over to the couch and picked up the remaining supplies. I watched Apollo clutch the sword with one hand while the other just hung loosely in the air. He shuffled out the door and began to follow the trail.

"And then there was me," I chuckled as I slammed the door behind him. I dropped my supplies and ran to the couch. I hopped onto it and snuggled my face into its softness. I knew I had caused enough commotion for one day.

"Even Apollo couldn't beat me," I smiled, "That's game, set, and match."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D I tried to make it full of action, as well as have some character developmentinsight. Don't worry, the next chapter will still have plenty of action I promise ;D **

**Adam: These eulogies are just getting harder and harder. Adam was the comic relief in my story. While everyone else was fighting for their lives and having these serious moments, Char and him were doing the same thing but with this lightness that I just can't explain. I know their alliance didn't have a huge following or fan base, but I know all of you can admit that they were just a dynamic duo of comedy. It was so easy to have them play off of each other. I'm truly going to miss it D: and him and his pervy ways!**

**Thanks for reading and (hopefully) dropping a review**

**Europa**


	46. Day Eleven: Part Two: Family

**Day Eleven: Family**

**Part Two: **

**District Nine:**

**Hawk's POV:**

"That went flawlessly," Asita grinned as we stumbled into a bedroom. The bed was pushed against the far wall next to a window. There was also a small sitting area to the right with a fireplace.

"Except for the fact you're hurt," I reminded as I set down my supplies on the desk next to me.

"Details, details," Asita waved dismissively as she set down an armload of pastries on the bed.

"There's blood on some of them," I blurted as she began to make a bandage.

"I'm sorry; would you rather starve to death or eat one of your own limbs?"

She lifted up her dress and began to remove a few remaining shards of broken china.

"I'm not eating food covered in your blood."

She wrapped the bandage around her knees and wiped away the blood running down her legs.

"I few smears of blood isn't considered 'covered'," Asita sneered, "But fine, I guess those are mine."

I walked over to the sitting area and made my way towards a door I hadn't noticed before. I opened it and saw, for the first time since I entered the arena, a proper bathroom. I began to rummage through the cabinets and drawers, but only found two bars of soap.

"Catch," I called out as I tossed it to Asita.

She turned around and covered her face with her arms. It landed right on the desk next to her and she recoiled slightly. She gave me a deadly glare, but a smile spread across her face when she saw what I had found.

"I think this is the best thing that has ever been placed in any arena," she cooed as she sat down in a chair by the window.

"You might want to check your priorities."

"Cleanliness is next to godliness," Asita recited as she pulled out a pair of scissors.

"Where did you get those?"

"The desk."

She began to cut away at the fabric, forming different slits and making it slightly shorter. While Asita readjusted her outfit, I took a seat on one of the sofas. I put my feet up on the nearby table and smiled. Things were going better than I thought. I now had plenty of supplies and enough throwing knives to get me through any fight. I was healing up rather quickly and I could soon be on my own again.

I winced at the thought for half a second, but steeled myself. Don't misunderstand me; hanging around with Asita had been great. She was definitely not what I expected and had been extremely pleasant and agreeable on a few, rare occasions. Still, there was one thing I picked up on the second we met and it was something we both shared. We were both equally determined to get home and would do anything to live.

I wasn't saying that she had been lying to me. I've just seen how good of a manipulator Asita could be when she tried. For all I knew, her being friendly could just be a tactic to get me to stick around longer and protect her. She could very well not even like me in the slightest way.

The depressing thing was that I wasn't sure if I could hold that against her if that was the case. She had one big thing going for her and that was her social game. I knew from experience that sometimes the only good way to escape something was to talk your way out of it. If that was the only thing I was _great_ at, wouldn't I do the same thing?

I knew from the day I was reaped that I could get an ally if I wanted to. I've sweet-talked countless girls while I snagged their jewelry from their necks or a few coins from their pockets. I could have easily found someone to tag along with me.

I just didn't want to. I knew I could fight, run, and use my resources to survive. I wanted to be alone and I didn't want to be responsible for dragging someone down. The thought of ditching someone with next to nothing filled me with guilt. You might have well slit their throat.

"Do you want any alterations to your suit?" I heard Asita ask.

I hopped onto my feet and replied, "I wouldn't mind if you cut the sleeves off. They're pretty prickly."

"You should be careful."

"Me? I'm as good as new," I joked as I 'ran' lightly around the sofa.

Asita chuckled and quipped, "Well, why don't you jog that tiny thing that shouldn't even be considered a butt over here and let me cut off the sleeves."

I frowned and walked towards her as I replied, "Not a single girl has ever complained about the size of my ass before."

"There's a first time for everything."

She cut along the top of the sleeves and began to snip at the frayed fabric.

"You could just rip them off. It doesn't need to be perfect."

"No partner of mine is running around this arena looking like a complete savage. Don't you know me at all? I wouldn't ruin a shirt for the sake of _comfort_," she sarcastically bit back.

"Oh no, Asita would _never_ do anything logical like that."

She smiled as she finished one sleeve and moved on to the other. Her joke stuck with me slightly. Did I really know this girl? I knew she had been completely honest with me about everything, but was that, in itself, a tactic? Since she had nothing to lose, was she just being honest to gain my trust. When worse came to worse, would she stick by me?

She removed the other sleeve and smiled, "See, it looks great. It _really_ shows off your arm muscles."

Then, under her breath, she mumbled, "What little you have, anyway."

I opened my mouth to complain when pain erupted through my body. Stars danced across my vision and everything turned to black.

* * *

><p><strong>District Eight:<strong>

**Asita's POV:**

I screamed in surprise as Hawk slumped to the ground in front of me. I stumbled back and felt a corner of the wall jut into my back. Behind Hawk stood Apollo and I could see the rage in his eyes.

"So, you really did decide to find the nearest man and shack it up with him. What did you tell him when he asked about me? Did you say I tried to kill you or that I just took advantage of a poor, innocent girl."

I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn't find my voice. Every feeling that was rushing through my body was overwhelmed by fear.

"_They_ want a dramatic finish. I'll give them one," he growled to himself and pointed his sword at Hawk.

"Get the rope I can see hanging out of your backpack. Try anything and your bodyguard here dies."

I glanced at his other arm and saw blood running down it. His hand hung loosely at his side and I remembered that it was his sword hand.

"I don't see you moving," he grunted as he pressed his sword against Hawk's neck.

The realization that Hawk's life, as well as my own, could end in seconds sent a shock through my body and I moved to the backpack behind me. I pulled the rope out of it and held it shakily as he kicked Hawk forward.

"Put him in the chair."

I bent down and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I heaved him into the chair by the window.

"Tie him up. Tight."

I wrapped the rope around his legs and then around each arm. Apollo then motioned for me to step over by the nearby sofa.

"You try to run and it's over. I'll chase you down, kill you, and then come back here and end his sorry life."

I stood by the sofa and watched as Apollo took a seat on the bed. He kept the sword pointed at Hawk, but his gaze didn't leave me for a single second.

"What are we waiting for?" I asked quietly after some time had passed.

"For Hawk to wake up. The three of us are going to have a nice chat."

"Then?"

"Then," Apollo barked, "I'm going to make you watch as I kill him. As _if_ you really care about him, but I can hear Cami telling me that this will make Capitol headlines. Apollo, the original lover, kills the 'other man' and then the slut he fell in love with. It really is top entertainment."

My heart's pace quickened as I picked up on the indication that after Hawk, I was next. I knew it was obvious, but Apollo saying it drove the point home. I watched as Hawk stirred slightly and I knew I had to do something. I glanced at my knapsack and saw my dagger poking out of it. I then noticed the scissors lying on the floor in between Apollo and me. It was a long shot, but if I could just distract him…

"You don't have to do this," I whispered, trying to cake on the sadness and desperation.

"Yes I do," he barked.

"No you don't. As long as we're both alive, there still can be an 'us'," I lied.

"Shut up," he spat angrily.

I spoke faster, attempting to enflame his anger even more, "No! I know you still feel it! You can't just erase something so potent and strong. What we have is something we should fight for!"

"You're disgusting. It's over. What part of me picking Jordana didn't get that across?"

Surprisingly, a sharp twinge of actual hurt shot through my heart.

"I know you want me," I said in a sultry voice as I began to step towards him, "You can have me."

I could hear the fury in his voice as he stood up and shouted, "Your tricks aren't going to work you whore!"

"Just kill him," I commanded as I laid my hands on Apollo's chest, "Then it can be just you and me."

"I can't believe I ever bought this act," he hissed as he let go of his sword. In his anger, he used his good hand to grab my arm and shove me away.

I threw myself to the ground and twisted myself so I fell face first. I wrapped my right hand around the scissors and spun around. I drove it straight into his leg and he howled in agony. I pulled it out and stabbed him again as I tried to use my other hand to loosen the rope around Hawk's legs.

Before I could stab again, I felt a stinging pain as Apollo backhanded me and I was sent sliding across the floor.

I lifted my head to see Hawk's eyes open slightly and Apollo raffle through my bag. I saw the scissors to my left and reached for them.

Suddenly, I watched as Apollo drove my jeweled dagger into my hand.

I screeched in anguish as I watched blood begin to flow out of it.

"I thought that was a little overdramatic, even for you. Good effort, but you're still going to die."

I felt him grab my other hand and he used a small piece of wire to tie it to the leg of the sofa.

"Perfect timing," he growled at Hawk, "Now she has the perfect view to watch you die."

Tears streamed down my face as Apollo hobbled to his sword. I looked at Hawk who, though conscious, was still completely out of it. His eyes were fluttering open and shut as well as rolling into the back of his head occasionally.

Right as the finality of defeat began to settle over me, my siblings faces flashed before my eyes one by one. Suddenly, my tears began to feel hot and they became tears of anger. My quiet sobs became harsher and I began to force my left hand up the blade of the dagger. I pulled at my right hand and felt the wire rake over it, ripping flesh away. I bit down on my lip and used the pain to push myself harder.

I wasn't going to sit here and let Apollo kill me. I wasn't going to let my family down. I _wasn't_ going to die.

I saw Apollo step to the side of Hawk, completely focused on him. I felt the top of my left hand touch the handle of the dagger. I gave one final push and the dagger sank out of the wood floor. I forced my right hand out from underneath the wire and pulled the dagger out of my palm with a small cry.

In this split second, the presence of the open door behind me became overwhelming. I knew that I could run out of this room. If I ran right now, I would have a head start. Apollo wouldn't be able to run for very long with that leg injury.

I would escape.

The faces of my siblings came to mind again. I told them I would do anything to get back home to them. I knew they needed me and every minute I survived was another step closer to them. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to run.

I took one last glimpse at the scene before me. Hawk, incapacitated, with Apollo closing in on him. If I ran, Hawk would die.

If I ran, I wouldn't be fighting to get home to them.

I was tired of being protected. I was so sick of running away from everything and letting others deal with the problems I left behind. What was happening right now had nothing to do with Hawk.

This was my fight.

Apollo's gaze began to shift towards me. I wasn't going to run and let Hawk die. I wasn't going to hide and hope that all the other tributes would kill one another. Right now, it was either Hawk's life or Apollo's life.

As I bounded forward I knew what I was going to do.

I was going to _fight_ for my life.

* * *

><p><strong>District Two:<strong>

**Apollo's POV:**

A blur of movement appeared in the corner of my vision and I turned towards it. Pain seared my shoulder as a dagger imbedded itself into it. I used my strength to shove Asita off of me and she rolled across the ground. Even with only one good arm I was stronger than her.

"Thanks for the weapon," she sneered as she leapt at me again.

This time I grabbed her wrist and began to twist. She let out a small cry but grabbed my hair with her other hand. I tried to shove her away again but her grip was firm. She pulled even harder and I hissed in pain as a chunk of my hair was yanked out. I turned around and grabbed the sword that I had dropped.

Anticipating her charge, I rammed my shoulder forward and felt it connect with her torso. She went stumbling back and I began to charge forwards. The clang of my sword against her dagger resounded throughout the room as she blocked my attack. She swiftly began to narrowly dodge, hopping and sliding away from my swipes.

"You always have to have it your way," I growled as she put the sofa in between us, "You can never just let anyone else do something unless it's your idea."

"When it involves killing my friend and me, then yeah I have a problem with it."

"Oh, a 'friend," I jeered, "I bet you two are the best of 'friends'."

"Always with the low blows," Asita hissed, "When are you going to learn that I'm the queen of mean? Those insults only hurt once, if that."

"You know what else only hurts once? Dying."

I vaulted over the sofa and felt my legs connect with her jaw. She fell back onto the table and it splintered beneath her. I slashed my sword downwards and felt it graze her back as she rolled away. She staggered to her feet and held her dagger in front of her.

"You're not scary Asita," I taunted, "We both know that you can't take me on in a fight, let alone kill me."

"If you believe that then you never knew me at all."

"You're right, I never knew you. How could anyone know a lying, dirty whore!" I roared.

"Stop it," Asita yelled in pure rage, "Just stop acting like you're _above_ me! I'm sorry that I hurt you, ok? I'm really, really sorry, but I'm done with this! I've moved on and I don't see why you haven't."

"What-"

"I did what I had to do to help myself win so that I can get back to my family. Don't you remember what that is, Apollo? _Family_, you have one. That's part of the reason I cared for you so much. The fact that you volunteered for this to help your family made you different from the other Careers."

My stance faltered slightly as I thought of them. Now that she had forced it to mind, I hadn't thought of them once since entering these games. My two lovely, dainty sisters had all but disappeared from my mind and my two brothers seemed like a distant memory. My mother's kind blue eyes were like a ghost.

"Well guess what, they're waiting for me back home because I'm all they got besides each other. That's the difference between us Apollo. We were doing just fine and I was _taken_ from them. You willingly volunteered for this when you could have, I don't know, gotten a _job_ like every _sane, normal_ person in Panem! Every day I've strived to do what I can to get back and you've gone and completely forgotten why you're here. So _don't_ stand there and act like you're better than me!"

I was stunned by the fact that the only thing on my mind had been Asita. This entire game, it had always been Asita. From when I loved her to when I hated her, it was always about _her_. Shame congealed in my stomach at the thought of my family watching these games from home. Not only was I a disgrace, but I wasn't doing the one thing I was supposed to be achieving here.

I wasn't truly trying to win the games.

I stared at the girl who had taken over my life the second I saw her. I didn't know if it was love, lust, or obsession, but it had taken over my very essence. Hot tears rolled down her face and her eyes seemed to be on fire.

"You're right," I calmly stated, "I had forgotten them. It's my problem, not yours… But you're the source of the problem. This means you… The problem has to be eliminated."

I raised my sword, suddenly different. The wrath that had sent me into this frenzy was gone. I was only filled with thoughts of my family.

Asita dodged my swing and tried to duck towards the boy from nine. I moved to the right, blocking her attempt. I jabbed forward but she side-stepped and dug her fingers into the open wound on my injured arm.

I yelped and shoved her forward. She fell to the ground again and I forced myself on top of her. She bit down on my good arm and pierced my thigh with her dagger. I bashed her head into the ground and used my leg to pin her other arm to the ground. Her teeth dug in even harder and I was forced to bash her head into the floor several more times before she released. I reached around for my sword and found it around the wreckage of the table.

I looked down at her, feeling the remorse take over. All of this wasn't her fault. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't anyone's fault.

It was just the Hunger Games.

Before I could regret it, I brought my sword forward. I felt her struggle and cry out beneath me. Her nails dug into different areas of my body, but the pain didn't compare to what I knew I would feel within seconds.

I held my sword above her heart. I closed my eyes, feeling a slight sting, and began to put pressure on it.

Abruptly, I was knocked to the side and my head began to throb. I gawked as I saw the boy from nine standing above me, still tied to his chair. However, his legs were free and I knew immediately that he had swung his body and used the back legs of his chair to knock me off of Asita.

I threw myself forward and knocked his legs out from underneath him. He tumbled to the ground and I scrambled to my feet.

I tried to impale the boy with my sword, but found I couldn't. I looked to the side slightly and saw Asita standing next to me. I then realized she was holding a wooden shard from the broken table.

The stake was impaled through my chest. I heard a small whimper escape my lips and I collapsed to the ground. My mind raced as panic seized me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't talk. All I could feel was the pain building up as I suffocated.

All of the sudden, I felt myself being lifted up to the sofa and I could see Asita above me. She was weeping and I felt her hands being run through my hair. My body spasmed slightly as someone removed the wood from my chest.

"I'm… I wish it didn't have to happen like this," she whispered, "I wish… I wish we could have met somewhere else… Remember when we made up that scenario? The one where we met, somehow, back in the districts and fell in love. Then we did all the things you're supposed to do in life, like get married and have a family. I wish…"

She began to fade out and darkness creeped around the edges of my vision. I tried to fight against the black abyss even though I knew it was hopeless. All too late I realized I didn't care about the games I trained for. I didn't care about anything at all, except one thing… My family.

My heart broke into fractals knowing I would never see them again.

* * *

><p><strong>Mentor's POV:<strong>

**District Five:**

**Memory's POV:**

The room, as usual now, was completely silent. All of us heard the cannon fire and watched Asita cradle Apollo's head.

"I can't believe it…" Linnet gaped as she powered down the District Two station.

"I'm sorry," I heard Ethan murmur.

"My bet was on Jordana the second Apollo fell for that floozy… But for her to end up killing him? I just… I can't believe she beat him," Linnet explained.

She walked out of the Control Room and the door slammed shut behind her. I pressed my fingers to my temples and shut my eyes. This was the part of the games I dreaded the most. No one had enough money to give their tributes anything. Everyone just had to sit here and wait. We just had to watch as the remaining children slaughtered each other while losing bits and pieces of themselves.

I opened my eyes and avoided the screen with Asita, Hawk, and Apollo. Currently, the other tributes were 'safe'. Cami was lounging about, snacking on her remaining food. Valhalla was back in her lair doing the same thing. Oddly enough, Leith and Ruth were still in the room with the muttation Ruby. Leith was sprawled on her lavish bed while the two of them were trying to ease his pain. From what I could tell, he was completely blind. Granted, he hadn't been talking very much.

My tributes were currently delving deeper into the mansion's basement area. Winnifred still appeared to be stoic and free from all emotions. She was like a walking corpse. It was eerie to realize how similar she and Valhalla appeared to be now. Admyer trudged behind her, totally silent. He seemed to be trying to give her space to think ever since he forced her to clean herself up.

Then there was Charlotte from District Ten. Throughout the entire game I had taken almost no notice of her. She and her ally were both… average. They weren't ever a threat to anyone and they didn't run into many tributes. Neither of them was overly bright, strong, or intimidating. However, her face after Cami traumatized her had almost scarred me. What Cami had done to the body was not anything new. There had already been several decapitations this game and have been for ages. Still, the fact that Charlotte ended up _holding_ the head was sickening.

It even might have been different if she would have seen his dead body and had gone over and picked up the head. That wasn't the case though. When she caught his skull, she had no idea he wasn't alive. _That's_ how she found out that someone she was close to and had been talking to just a little bit earlier was dead.

I gazed at Charlotte as she sat in the same room that Adam and she had slept in the night before. She was curled up in front of a roaring fire shaking like a leaf with her head in between her legs.

I glanced at the clock and stood up.

Ophelia wanted to talk to a select group of us earlier. Right now was my designated time to leave.

"I'll be back in a bit. I just… I can't do this right now," I lied to Felix.

He nodded, believing me one hundred percent, and I walked towards the exit. I felt bad lying to him. He was my old mentor and I trusted him with my life, but it was for his own good. If he knew what we were planning, he would get in deep trouble if we were caught. I couldn't live with myself if he was hurt.

To be fair, if this scenario was real I wouldn't be alive for very long.

I stepped out onto the lot and marched towards the street. I avoided reporters easily since many weren't on the look for me anymore. My tributes weren't the center of attention right now.

I continued to my destination, having the directions memorized. I followed them exactly, making record time as I dipped into the small alley. I continued to zigzag, following an indirect route.

I swiftly pulled up to the building and opened the door. I sprinted down the metal stairs and dove between two sets of crates. I opened the metal door and walked in the room.

The room was fairly sparse. It had a computer system set up on the far wall. Several monitors flashed different codes and lines of information as I entered. In the middle of the room was a small, metal table with several chairs lined around it. One light hung from the ceiling and there was no way for natural light to access the room.

"There you are," Justice smiled as he got up from his desk, "I thought you might not show up since there was so much excitement going on in the arena."

"Not my tributes, not my problem," I stated quietly as I sat down.

"What's the matter?" he asked as he took a seat next to me.

"Just tired, like every year. Nervous wreck, like usual. You know, same old Memory."

"The games are almost over," he whispered.

"I know… That's what I'm afraid of. What if we don't get this done in time?"

"We will," someone chimed in as they entered the door.

I glanced over to see Peach, the Head Muttation Creator, walk in with Ophelia.

"Everyone here?" Ophelia chirped.

"Yep," Lorie rang out.

I jumped slightly, not realizing she was standing in the shadows.

"Good. I had something I wanted to discuss with you, but I'm going to let Peach go first."

"The final eight is almost here," Peach began, "I have the three basic frames, but we need to make our decision now. Two girls and one boy."

"What decision is there? Obviously Winnifred, Admyer, and Ruth," I barked.

"Ahem," Lorie coughed, "Hawk?"

"You've expressed how much you _don't_ care about him countless times."

"Doesn't mean that you can just-"

"Enough," Ophelia shouted.

No one spoke as Ophelia sipped at her drink and got comfortable in her seat.

"For our plan to work," she began, "We need people that the Capitol adores. We need tributes that set an example."

I nodded slightly, not exactly sure where she was going with this. Our plan was 'simple'. Once we recruited Peach, she immediately began to create the basic frames for our mutts. Then, around now, we were going to decide (even though I thought it was always obvious) who she would model the mutts after. Once she was done, she would put the mutts into the transport system. Justice would then hack into the Gamemaker's system and shut the power off momentarily. While the cameras and lights were down, we would switch the tributes with the mutts. Then we would sneak the tributes to a secure location.

The plan was brilliant, if we executed it perfectly. We were then going to use the tributes to show the districts that the Capitol can be defied, while showing the Capitol the human side of the tributes they thought were dead. We were going to hack into the feed during the victory ceremony and, fingers crossed, start some sort of rebellion.

Obviously, it wasn't that simple… But it _was_ just a plan.

"I'm thinking Winnifred is a good choice," Ophelia started calmly, "because she embodies something that might touch the Capitol; the loss of innocence and, even, humanity."

"Continue," I stated, not trusting her tone of voice

"I know that you're attached to Admyer as well… But the Capitol isn't."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that a better choice would be Leith; a fallen Career who speaks out against the Hunger Games and how it changes people, even from childhood."

"No," I hissed.

"Memory, you know Admyer could still win the Hunger Games. He could still get out of it alive."

"And you know the odds of that are slim," I growled.

"We have to think about what's best for what we're trying to accomplish. If we're going against the President and the Hunger Games, we have to bring our best weapons."

I sighed, knowing deep down she was right. I couldn't let my personal feelings get in the way. Still, why would we save a Career? For the most part, they couldn't be trusted. The only kind Career I knew was Ethan, and he didn't enter the Hunger Games that way.

"And the other girl?" I asked, attempting to avoid the argument soon to come.

"I'm going to let the rest of you decide because I know that I have a biased opinion. I believe the best choices would be either Ruth or Asita. Ruth shows a strong rebellious side, which could be very helpful for rallying people to our cause. Asita, on the other hand, is adored by the Capitol. Once they've gone through her death and found out she's actually alive, it could change some people's hearts."

"Asita," Lorie responded without hesitation, "She's smart, cared for, and dedicated. Ruth's too much of a wildcard."

"I think Asita can be extremely selfish at times," I argued.

"And Ruth isn't?"

"I'd go with Asita," a voice chimed in.

We all looked to the door and saw a figure standing in the frame. The voice was familiar. For a split second, the icy undertone reminded me of Rouge. Did Ophelia convince her to be a part of this?

However, when the figure stepped out of the shadows I felt the color drain from my face and my heart began to pound out of my chest.

"Oh, you thought I didn't know," Lavender smiled viciously, "Darling, I'm the Head Gamemaker. I know _everything_."

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

I didn't know how much time had passed. Reality seemed to be crashing down around me. If I tried to think about Adam, I could only see his bloody corpse and face. If I tried to think about anything else, I could only think about Adam. It was an endless loop of horrified images and sickening feelings.

It was entirely my fault.

Once that stupid girl lost her temper, Alexei was on top of me immediately. He wrapped his large, cold hands around my throat. It was a struggle because of his sheer size, but I managed to wriggle from his grasp. I tried to run away, but he was always right on my heels. I did what I had to do, which was fight. I kept my distance and moved away from every blow. Then, when I had the chance, I used my rope to get ahold of his neck. I thought that, maybe, if I detached it he would stop moving. It was a gross thought, but I knew he was already dead.

Then it just becomes a blur.

Turning around slightly and catching something hard. Looking down…

My stomach churns at the image again.

If I would have found him first… If I would have been faster or stronger…. I could have saved him. If I only knew that Cami would target him…

I stood up, for the first time in hours, and walked away from the fire.

The scene kept replaying in my head. After I had dropped him, I immediately vomited. Then I saw the blood on my hands and wiped it away. I scratched and rubbed so hard that my own skin began to flake off. Then I ran. I didn't stop running until I was back here. I couldn't stop to think about anything without sobbing.

I walked over to a nearby table with a mirror above it. I looked at Adam's claw-like weapons that I had thrown when I entered this room. I picked them up and almost fondled them. I then held them to my chest and looked at my reflection. My eyes were red from crying and weariness. My hair was a rat's nest and oily. My skin was pale and sickly looking. I thought the mirror was shaking, but then noticed it was just me.

I looked just like the people back home.

I looked exactly like the hopeless people of District Ten. So many of them looked sad and… empty. I swore that I would never be them. I promised myself that I would always be filled with hope and spirit.

Now I was just like them.

An angry screech pierced the room and I smashed the mirror with the claws. Shards of glass fell to the floor and I tipped the table over. I spun around and attached the claws. I yelled as I attacked the sofa and shredded it. Fabric and feathers flew through the air. I kicked over another table and I could hear more glass breaking. I slashed through another chair and let out another angry sob.

I stumbled over something and looked down.

"You stupid piece of horse dung!" I screamed at the black special item, "If you were actually something useful, Adam could have lived! Instead, you're just a piece of deadweight!"

I picked it up and lugged it into the fire.

I fell back to the ground and threw the claws across the room.

I felt so helpless and weak. For a split second earlier, I had thought about leaving him. I knew that I could have never gone through with it. He wasn't just my ally… He was the greatest friend I had ever had.

Now, I was completely and utterly alone and it was terrifying.

"How am I supposed to do this?" I croaked, "How am I supposed to do this alone? Everyone left is so strong and brave… just like you. How can I beat them?"

As if a response, the anthem began to play and I looked to the screen eagerly. I needed to see him again. I can't let that memory be the last time I saw him.

The first face to appear was Apollo and another wave of shock hit me. I was just talking with him earlier today. We were eating right next to each other…

Then a picture of Adam appeared and I couldn't help but smile. For his picture, he was giving his usual heartbreaker smile. He had one eyebrow raised as if he was saying 'Come at me ladies'. As it began to dissipate, the panic set in again.

I didn't want to be alone. I didn't know what to do without him here.

Suddenly, a bout of homesickness possessed me. My mother's irritatingly sharp voice rang through my mind.

_ "Look at what a mess you made Charlotte! Clean it up right now!"_

I looked around at the debris and shook my head. Of course my memory would be of her telling me to do a chore.

"_You can't just sit there and expect me to do all the work! You need to learn responsibility! No man is ever going to want to marry a lazy woman."_

"I don't think I have to worry about marriage right now," I murmured to myself.

"_Don't just sit there Charlotte! Go do something productive and that doesn't mean partying!"_

"God, I miss you so much mother," I cried to myself.

I never thought I would miss my mother's nagging voice, but I did. I missed arguing with her. I missed my father's laid back attitude. I miss his casual smile every time my mother and I went at each other. I just miss my family.

Suddenly, I was snapped out of my misery by a loud crackling. I gazed into the fire and saw that the black item was now a bright red. Fissures began to spiral down the sides of it.

_If you hide hot embers, the smoke will betray you._

Smoke began to puff out of the object and I gasped.

This could be how I win the Hunger Games.

* * *

><p><strong>So there it is. The fight that everyone has been waiting for since Day Six, some even since the Training Days! I hope it was up to par with the hype that everyone has been putting with it. I also know that I left two very big cliffhangers this chapter :D I guess you'll just have to wait and see what comes of those!<strong>

**Apollo- I honestly didn't know if you were going to die or not. I went into that fight knowing it would be between you and Asita, but I didn't plan on which of you would win. I'm truly happy that before you died you remembered who you were and what motivated you to enter these games in the first place. **

**I also wanted to say a big thank you to every single one of you. I was just checking out some statistics and this story has recently gone over 50,000 views! Yes, I know that doesn't mean 50,000 people have read it, but that at least means many people gave it a chance! Its because of all of you that it happened and I'm so thankful!**

**Anyways, please leave a review if you can and I'll see you guys next time :D**

**Europa**


	47. Day Twelve: Part One: Together ---

**Day Twelve: Together, Wavering, Torn**

**Part One:**

**Mentor's POV:**

**District Nine:**

**Lorie's POV:**

"I blame you," I hissed at Peach as I stomped towards her.

"Oh really? How exactly is this her fault?" Memory interrupted

"I honestly don't know," I quipped, "But I didn't fuck up. None of us Victors here fucked up, which leaves this little Capitol rat."

"I swear I didn't do anything," Peach whimpered as I hovered over her.

"Leave her alone, Lorie," Ethan barked.

I glared at him from across the table as I skulked back to my dark corner of the room. After Lavender dropped in with her _lovely_ input, she immediately left. She didn't accuse us, she didn't threaten us, and she didn't kill us. All she did was bar the door the shut.

Throughout the night, one by one, every person who was in on our plan was thrown in here. That included Ethan, Bethany, and two Capitolian benefactors who had given us different amounts of money and information. Every time they were tossed in, the door was slammed shut behind them without a word.

"Do you think they're going to bury us alive or just starve us to death?" Bethany asked.

"The President is probably going to march a firing squad in here and let it rip," I grumbled.

"They won't kill us like that," Ophelia reasoned, "How is she going to explain to Panem the death of a handful of victors, some who have won very recent games?"

"Maybe they won't kill us at all," Memory joked, "Perhaps just give us a stern warning."

"She's going to torture us," Peach whispered, "She's going to pluck one eye out of each of us and stomp them on the ground. She's going to slowly dismember us while she laughs manically. Lavender is going to hang us by our own intestines and-"

"I didn't realize you were so dark," I chuckled, "I thought you were the kind of person who was only filled with _bubbles_ and _sunshine_."

The room fell into silence again as we waited. We had been waiting for what seemed like days but could only be hours. I had watched as the others fell into uneasy fits of sleep. The only one who had stayed wide awake was Ethan. He was constantly shaking and peering around, as if the walls were going to attack him. I had heard that ever since his games he couldn't stand being underground or in tight spaces, but I hadn't realized how severe it was.

Me, I didn't sleep much. Ever since I was teenager I was out late partying and having fun. Then, I would get up early in the morning and sneak back into my house. It set up a weird internal clock that has always stuck with me, even in the Hunger Games. My little to no sleep saved me several different run-ins with stronger tributes.

Who knew being a party girl really did have its advantages.

"As much as I enjoy your commentary," Memory groaned, "Just shut up."

"That's great coming from you. We were all screaming that when you were laughing your head off as you chased the tributes through the arena. Do still do that, only with squirrels or whatever god forsaken creatures you have in District Five?"

Right as Memory was about to respond, the door opened again. I sank deeper into the shadows and waited. I didn't have a set plan, but I wasn't going to miss any opportunity to escape. I signed up for this so that we could finally show those Capitol fuckers what was coming to them. I didn't do this just to die and let them go skipping along their merry way.

The door slammed shut and there Lavender stood with a small pistol.

"Now that I have _all_ of you here, let's talk business."

Business… What did she mean by business? I had heard Lavender liked to play sick games (being the Head Gamemaker and all), but what was she playing at?

"You have the floor," Ophelia responded calmly, as if Lavender was pitching an idea. I had to respect the fact that she could keep her head on her shoulders.

"Your idea, though cute, was stupid. You think a couple of tributes escaping would really work? Even if you did somehow manage to get them out of there safely, who cares? You think that's really going to throw the Capitol into a full throttle rebellion?"

"It's a start," Ophelia stated.

"No, it's really not," Lavender objected, "You have one shot in Panem. If you're going to take it, you have to do it hard and fast. You have to do something that will change _everything_. Otherwise, President Raven takes care of it. Do you know how many 'rebellions' the whole line of Presidents has taken care of over the years? Hundreds upon hundreds."

"Then I guess you can just add us to the list," Memory complained, "and finish this up."

"Finish what up?"

"This," Memory repeated as she pointed at the gun, "Just kill us if that's what you're going to do. This whole big discussion is kind of wasted on the ears of the soon to be dead."

"Oh, I see," Lavender stated, "You want me to use this gun for what I brought it for? Ok."

She swiftly pointed it across the room and fired twice. The two Capitolian benefactors fell to the ground, lifeless. Lavender then put the gun into her jacket and stood with her hands on her hips. Peach looked mortified and her gaze didn't leave the two dead Capitolians.

"What was that act supposed to tell us?" Ophelia immediately asked.

"I've known about this for weeks. Do you think I became Head Gamemaker by just sitting around and waiting to get pushed to the top? No, I got here because I had eyes and ears everywhere. Information is power and how you find that out is by spying. It wasn't really hard to put two and two together when victors were having secret rendezvous with each other and my Head Muttation Creator."

Lavender began to pace around the room, "So now you're probably asking yourself 'Then why did you let it continue?'. It's simple really, I like drama. I wanted to see how far you would get before you made a major mistake. I even planned out cornering you in the lab, right before you sent the muttations in, and then dragging each one of the rebels in behind me. It was going to be _histrionic."_

"What changed?" Ophelia asked.

Lavender's smirk disappeared as she looked away, "I suppose you could say I did… Or at least I had, a change of heart."

"Doesn't that require you to have one?" I quipped, feeling slightly more confident.

"I'm not going to delve into details," Lavender ignored, "but I had a realization. For the longest time, I blamed the people in the districts for my suffering. It was _their_ fault because their rebels killed my family. Then it hit me. The rebels that killed my family were people from the Capitol. Those self-righteous, holier-than-thou, freaks thought they should start a riot to help the poor, defenseless districts. It wasn't your fault. It was the fault of those who stuck their noses in places they shouldn't be."

"So what-"

"Listen once and listen good," Lavender growled, "The people in this city, rebels or not, let me suffer. Not a single goddamn one ever helped me, which is why I've decided I want _them_ to _suffer_ too. I want them to feel scared, hopeless, and helpless all at once… Which is why _I'm_ going to help you."

I felt as if time stopped moving. The _Head Gamemaker_ wanted to help _us_ start a _rebellion_.

"Help?"

"I have a plan," Lavender smiled, "I know the President as well as I know myself. Unlike other Presidents, she doesn't care about the Hunger Games. All she cares about is power. So her worst fear? Losing it. Luckily for all of you, I know how to manipulate that so that _she_ starts the rebellion for us."

"And how is that?" Memory asked sarcastically.

"You're just going to have to trust me," Lavender smirked, "but I'll give you a hint. It starts with those two dead bodies."

"I feel a catch," I stated.

"Oh, you're smart," Lavender smirked, "The catch is I want immunity. After this rebellion has ended, I want to know that I won't be harmed."

"We're just supposed to promise you that and trust you? Do you think we're idiots?" I laughed.

"Or I could just kill you all now. I don't mind that option either," Lavender hissed as she whipped back out her gun.

"It's a deal," Ophelia stated, "But I am curious. What do you get out of this?"

"Glee. Bliss. Joy. Whatever adjective you choose to use. On both sides there is going to be a lot of loss and a lot of heartache. Whichever side wins, I'm going to end up being ok. I have immunity with you and the President isn't going to find out I'm in on this until the execution day. Everyone suffers and I get out free and alive. I can't ask for anything more."

"That's sick," Justice spoke up for the first time.

"Deal with it," Lavender barked, "This entire operation is under my control now. I'm the leader and each one of your lives is in my hands. You have no choice _but_ to trust me and obey. First order; get rid of those stupid mutts you made before someone else catches you. Your plan was amateurish compared to what I have in store."

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine:<strong>

**Hawk's POV:**

As I eased into reality, I let my mind wander. I tried to imagine being anywhere else but here. I felt the warmth of the sun beating down on me. I thought of beams of moonlight hitting me. I imagined myself surrounded by a forest of trees or an expanse of grassland. The scene kept changing from biome to biome and night to day.

I pried my rusted eyelids open and looked up. Asita was still huddled in the small bed, her arms covering her face. I couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep, but either way she was still clouded with dark thoughts. Her entire composure was tight and closed, as if she was defending herself from the onslaught of her own mind.

After Apollo's death cannon rang out yesterday, Asita bolted to the bathroom. She smashed the door shut and locked it. I had no idea what she did in there, but I heard running water. After a few minutes, I noticed her bar of soap was on the floor and crushed to pieces. I managed to pick up several clumps and placed them by the bathroom door.

When I turned around, Apollo's body was suddenly gone. I did what I could to clean up or cover the blood. I even grabbed a sheet from the bed and placed it over the blood-soaked couch. After several hours, the quiet pellets of water stopped and Asita skidded out of the bathroom. Without a single word, she walked to the bed and collapsed into it. She's been laying there ever since.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and pushed myself up from off the ground. Even I couldn't will myself to sleep on the couch knowing what was under the sheet. I walked over to our supplies and rummaged through them for some food. I grabbed several pieces of dried meat and picked up an assortment of different pastries.

I wiped off the windowsill and placed them all on it in a nice row. Maybe the rising sun would warm them slightly. A warm baked good always seemed to cheer me up. Granted, I had never killed someone I cared for. When I killed Scarlett, I was shaken up for days and I didn't even know the kid.

I glanced over at Asita and jumped slightly to see two eyes peering at me between her arms. I picked up one of the pieces of dried meat and held it out to her. She didn't move to grab it so I began to push it through the crack between her arms. It pressed against something and I heard a faint giggle.

"That's my nose."

I laughed slightly as well and angled it differently.

"Chin," she laughed again.

I attempted one more time and felt it begin to be pulled from my grasp. I turned around and grabbed food for myself. As I ate my breakfast, I watched as Asita stretched and began to eat one of the pastries.

"I didn't expect you to be up yet," I commented.

"I couldn't sleep much," she mumbled in between bites.

"I forgot you didn't eat last night. You must be starving," I stated as Asita began to eat faster.

"Not really. I just don't know how much longer this food will be good until it starts to mold. Might as well make the most of it."

She began to scarf down more food and I asked, "Did you treat your hands last night?'"

I observed her hands and saw that they were both wrapped. Her left hand was wrapped far tighter and she was attempting to avoid using it. Her right hand's bandages were much looser and I could already see that most of it was scabbed over.

"Yes, I cleaned them out in the shower and then treated them when you were eating… I should have asked if you had any injuries that needed to be taken care of. That was stupid of me. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Just a few bruises and rope burns."

"That's good. I'm glad you're well," she smiled sadly as she finished off the last of her food.

"I was meaning to ask you about that," I started carefully, trying to tread lightly, "I'm only ok because of you-"

"You were only in trouble because of me," she argued.

"Why did you stay? You could have easily gotten away," I stated bluntly.

She sighed and replied, "You're right, I could have… But I couldn't just let Apollo kill you."

"I'm just asking because… Well because that wasn't part of our deal."

"Deal?" Asita asked in complete confusion.

"Don't tell me you forgot," I smirked, "The deal where you give me supplies and I protect you. We never added in a secret sub-note where you had to save my butt."

"I think it becomes an unmentioned rule when my ex-lover tries to kill you just so I can watch."

We laughed and I tactlessly blurted, "You're taking this a lot better than I thought."

She winced slightly and spoke, "I knew coming into this I was going to have to kill. Just because it was Apollo doesn't change that. It just meant that I needed a little time to recover, which you saw I took. I grieved for the time being and now I have to move on."

"Speaking of moving on," I began walk around and bend my knees, "My legs are as good as they're going to get. I don't need your medical care anymore."

Asita went rigid and her face was drained of all emotion, "Oh… Oh alright. Ok."

She stood up and walked over to our supplies as she called out, "We can still split this pretty evenly. The food should last us individually for a couple more days. I know you like ranged combat, so if you don't mind, I'll take Apollo's short sword. I think it could help me better in some situations then my dagger and-"

I grabbed her by the arm and turned her around slightly.

I smiled and said four words, "You. Me. Final Two."

Asita relaxed immediately and beamed at me. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. This time I stiffened slightly, not use to this kind of friendship. However, I wrapped my arms around her lightly. I didn't know what was ahead of us and it frightened me to think of us actually being the last two alive. Still, after all we had been through we were tied to each other.

Whatever happened, we were going to fight it together.

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Leith's POV:**

"I'm going to kill her," I murmured as Ruth fed me.

"You'll have to get in line," Ruth stated so coldly that a desert could have been frozen into an arctic.

I was extremely lucky right now. If Ruth didn't have this sense of 'duty' and 'loyalty' I would be as good as dead. Right now, all I could barely make out were shadows. I could see where the window was and the darker shadows that the different furniture cast. Some very large, blurry shapes were also noticeable, but my vision was almost completely gone.

"No, I'm going to kill her," I stated again as I felt the fury build in me again.

I didn't know if it was because of what happened yesterday or if it was because I was truly a Career, but now I could find myself only focused on the games. In the past few days, I had found myself vaguely viewing Ruth as an ally of sorts.

Now she was just a tool… Something I had to use for my own survival. I needed her to watch out for me for the time being. I needed her help with basic survival: food, water, maneuvering the arena, and traps.

Under this determination and rage, I could feel the terror. I wanted to start feeling again and here it was, but I would do anything to stop myself from feeling fear. There was no room for that emotion in me, especially in the Hunger Games.

"Seems like the old Ruth is back," I commented.

"No, I'm just saying that I have a score to settle with her. Plus, she just made my job a lot more difficult."

I smirked slightly at the word 'job'. If it was her job for the time being that meant she wasn't leaving anytime soon. Hopefully it would be easy to keep her wrapped under my thumb. I just had to make sure she didn't get the notion that she was 'repaying her debt' by taking care of me. I had to make it seem like I could do it all by myself.

"She didn't change anything. I can still look after myself. I'm not a child, Ruth."

I grabbed, what I believed to be, her wrist, and wrestled the remaining food away from her. I began to eat and moved my head so that I was facing away from Ruth. I listened as she sighed and I could hear her footsteps begin to plop away. A chair was scraped along the floor and I heard the small clatter of dishes.

"Leith's going to be fine then?" Ruby asked.

"He's as good as he's going to get for now," Ruth replied.

"Don't worry, Daddy can fix him completely!"

I strained my hearing as Ruth spoke quietly, "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when I went to get snacks? I left a note outside Daddy's workshop. He should be here anytime!"

"That's so sweet of you," Ruth replied in a panicky voice, "but we really do need to leave. We need to finish the game we're playing with the others."

I heard Ruth scramble up and begin to bolt towards me. I thought of how Ruby's 'Daddy' had fixed Alexei and her other dolls. I didn't want to be next on his list of things to fix for his daughter.

"Daddy!" Ruby cheered in delight.

Ruth tensed completely next to me and Ruby's light footsteps pitter-pattered across the floor. Ruth thrusted something into my hand and I could feel that it was a small knife. I thought about asking for my spear, but I realized Ruth's decision was the best one. Me holding a large spear while sitting on his daughter's bed didn't send the friendliest message to this new mutt.

"I must say, you've made quite a mess," the man practically murmured.

"I know… I'm sorry Daddy… I just got so mad and then my head hurt…"

"I'll have all of this fixed within the day," he reassured, "but who are these two?'

I gripped the knife tighter, feeling the fear creep into my body knowing that I couldn't see this potential foe. There was something very off-putting about his voice. He sounded eerily similar to Valhalla. They both were fairly emotionless in their tones and stated everything as if it was a fact. However, Valhalla had a distinct harshness and bitterness at times, especially when she was degrading someone she did not like. This man had a softer, lighter air to his voice that one might mistake for compassion or kindness… But it wasn't that.

It was the type of voice someone used when they were talking to a wounded animal before they put it down.

"They're my new playmates, Daddy!" Ruby cheered, "But the boy is broken! Some mean girl ruined his eyes!"

"Perhaps I can take a look?"

As he approached I whispered to Ruth, "Is he bad?"

"He looks completely normal. In fact, he reminds me of the doctors they had on-call in the Training Center," she murmured under her breath.

_That's reassuring since the crazy telekinetic mutt looks like a choir girl. _

I felt a soft, cold hand grip my chin and raise my face upwards. His warm breath blanketed my face as I stared into complete darkness.

"Yes… Some sort of acidic chemical. It burned the surrounding skin which means it is only physical, not poisonous. The eyesight could have been restored if I had seen this yesterday, but I'm afraid now that there is not much I can do. I would need the proper medical supplies to repair the damage, which I do not."

I broke free from his grasp and nodded in response. I just wanted him to leave. His voice sent chills cascading down and up my spine in a fluid motion.

"But Daddy you can fix anything!"

"I could always replace them… But I have a feeling your new playmate might be opposed."

_Damn right I am._

"In fact, I believe they have somewhere else to be."

I could feel his gaze tearing into my skull.

"No-"

"Ruby, isn't it time you and I went to the chapel? Neither of us has gone there in a few days. I believe it would be good for you to have some quiet time with all the excitement that has passed."

"I don't want to!"

"If you do not, I don't believe I can fix your dolls in the near future. Daddy has quite a few projects that he could do instead."

Ruby let out a huff of air and stomped her feet lightly. A small sniffle followed as she pouted, "Fine."

I listened as their footsteps headed towards the exit of the room.

They stayed momentarily as the man called out, "I trust you can show yourselves out."

Without waiting for a response, they continued and Ruth's entire frame shuddered.

"Let's never run into him again."

I nodded in agreement and I could feel Ruth begin to pack up the supplies. I put the knife down on the bed and began to pat my hands warily on the floor. I came into contact with the wooden shaft of one of my spears. I gripped it and simultaneously felt Ruth grab my other hand. I pulled away from her and scowled.

"I can stand up on my own."

I managed to get myself back on my feet and used the spear as a pseudo cane. I tapped along the ground in front of me and stepped forward. I continued to feel along the floor until it hit an object. I reached forward and realized it was one of the chairs to the table. I made a small right and walked towards where I believed the door was.

A small giggle came from behind me and I frowned.

"I'm sorry, this really isn't funny," Ruth struggled, "but you're using a wooden leg."

I jumped slightly and let it drop to the ground. Ruth laughed again and I couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"Don't make fun of the blind man."

"I didn't say anything! I just stated a fact," Ruth giggled as she handed me what I now could feel for certain was one of my spears.

I smiled slightly as she helped me to the door, but caught myself. No, Leith, she is not an ally. She is nothing more than an instrument. If I wanted to get further, I had to remember that. I steeled my emotions and continued forward. If this _was_ an alliance, I could feel it wavering.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

"Winnifred, where are we going?" I asked again for the countless time.

As per usual, she walked robotically forward as if I said nothing.

I was trying… I was trying really hard. Ever since the incident, I have tried to be patient and optimistic. I've tried to be kind and compassionate. I've tried giving her space. I even tried tough love once. I've tried every single thing I can think of and nothing even makes a dent.

Besides her one emotional outburst the morning after, she has been detached. It wasn't _normal_ detachment though. She wasn't just suppressing her feelings and acting tough. At this point, I didn't even think she was _suppressing_ her thoughts. After she killed Lucian, it felt like she had just decided to let her thoughts and actions roam free.

I found her doing stranger things by the day. Sometimes, she would clap four times. No more and no less. At night, I could hear her humming the same four notes over and over again. Even now, as we walked down this dark corridor in the basement, she was beginning to mutter things to herself.

It felt like she wasn't even here with me anymore. Almost like she was just…

"Winnifred, where are we going?"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance as she continued to shuffle forward, catching the words 'butter' and 'lilacs'. Winnifred was a smart girl and it looked like I was following a mentally handicapped person around. I knew she was still in there. If she was completely oblivious, why would she have stood up to Cami when she attacked me?

Suddenly, she stopped and I almost barreled into her. I peered around her and saw nothing but empty space.

"A caterpillar's first meal is its own eggshell," she recited, "It then spends most of its time eating the leaves of the plant on which it hatched. An adult butterfly uncoils its long, straw-like proboscis to sip nectar from flowers, juice from rotting fruit and water from puddles."

"Ok…" I responded, completely baffled by the fact that Winnifred had spoken more in the last ten seconds than she had in the past couple of days and it was about _butterflies_.

"No caterpillar or butterfly would live down here. They would die almost instantly."

I just walked in front of her and nodded in agreement. I looked into her eyes and saw they were completely glassed over. Since I had met Winnifred, I had noticed that at times she would space out. She would almost drown in her own thoughts until something or someone snapped her out of it. Out of all the times I had seen this happen, never have I seen her eyes so empty and hazy.

"Are you ok?" I asked feeling the concern wash through my body.

Suddenly, I wasn't sure what was going on. I just thought Winnifred was dealing with her emotions and coming to the fact that she had _killed_ someone. I thought that with her positivity and intelligence that she would be able to come out of this a stronger person. She would have lost her innocence, but she would also have gained the ability to fight.

Now I was finding myself questioning if she was _mentally_ okay instead of emotionally stable.

"I find myself wondering where the stars are. I can't see them."

"We're inside, Winnifred."

She blinked four times and stated, "Stars are made out of dust clouds scattered throughout the space. The turbulence within these dust clouds gives rise to knots which later on develop mass, allowing gas and dust to collapse. While this cloud collapses, the object that is present at the center starts to heat up. This hot core becomes a star later on."

"Winnifred," I yelled as I grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

A small light of recognition appeared and she held eye contact with me. As swiftly as it came, it disappeared and I found myself staring into empty eyes.

"Winnifred," my voice cracked as horror set in.

She didn't respond as she continued to stare into my eyes blankly. No words left her mouth. She was back to appearing robotic.

I violently remembered Winnifred telling me about her mother. Her mother who became unhinged after witnessing the violent death of her friend who was reaped for the Hunger Games. Her mother who recovered, but became even more unhinged after giving birth to Winnifred. Her mother who was locked in an insane asylum and has never showed any signs of getting better.

I let go of Winnifred shoulders and stumbled backwards. Tears stung my eyes as I realized how stupid I had been. How could I have forgotten! How could…

Winnifred began to walk past me, as if I was non-existent. I grabbed her shoulder, now knowing that she wouldn't wait for me. For the time being, she had no idea I was even here.

Deep grief and ache settled over me as I realized what I had to do. If I kept following her and taking care of her, she was going to get me killed. Odds were that we would walk into a tribute and she would just stumble past them without a second glance. There was nothing I could do to protect her anymore.

All I could do was protect myself.

A quiet sob escaped my lips as I took her knapsack from her shoulders. I removed almost everything. I left a day's worth of water and food in case she remembered to take care of herself, which she hadn't once since the incident.

"I'm so _so_ sorry Winnie. I've tried everything I can think of. Please forgive me."

With that, I forced myself to let her go. She stumbled forward slightly and looked back. My heart soared as her head turned, but rapidly plummeted when I saw her gaze graze right over me. She stood there for several minutes and I waited with baited breath, looking for one sign of hope. She slowly turned back around and continued forward.

Another small gasp and sob escaped as she disappeared down the dark corridor. The guilt crashed into me as I turned in the opposite direction. This alliance started out as one of convenience and it turned into one of friendship. We carried each other through different dark and hard times in this arena, but now her weight was too much to bear. It was over.

Our alliance was torn.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys!<strong>

**I know, not the most action-packed chapter but I think some significant things happened in it! I decided to make most of the chapter dedicated to the remaining alliances and to really solidify where they stood. **

**So I'm going to end this chapter with a question, more for curiosity sakes than anything. I have a pretty good idea where I'm going with this story, but who do you think/would like to see in an alliance later? There's still nine people left which means it definitely can (although it might not) happen. **

**Please drop a review and I'll talk to you guys next time!**

**Europa**


	48. Day Twelve: Part Two: Fire

**Day Twelve: Fire**

**Part Two:**

**District Three:**

**Valhalla's POV:**

_How cute._

I watched through the small crack in the door as Asita and Hawk interacted with each other. She was laughing at some daft joke he made while he was stoking the fireplace. They both seemed so comfortable and so _happy_.

It was revolting.

It was the twelfth day in the Hunger Games and we were almost to the Final Eight. Even if you were idiotic enough to remain in an alliance by this point, you should _not_ be having a jolly time while doing it. You should be strategizing or working towards a goal… Not playing house.

I suddenly felt a surge of envy rush through me. Yesterday, I had left my den to find my next target. Low and behold, I stumbled upon a wounded Apollo following a blood trail of his own. Naturally my curiosity kicked in and I decided to follow him. I was blessed to be able to witness the show these three tributes put on. I watched them perform their dance and left once Apollo was dead. The reasoning behind my departure was simple. I desperately wanted to come back today and find a broken Asita. I wanted to see her mind shattered into fractals and observe how her 'ally' reacted.

Come to find out, she is as carefree as ever and her alliance is in a little bubble of bliss.

_That will not do._

I slipped away from the door and marched down the corridor. I was disgusted with myself for even being a _tinge_ jealous of that girl. She was beneath me in so many aspects.

Within minutes, I was back in my room and I slammed the door shut behind me.

"It is not fair," I hissed as I stormed to the window, "She does _not_ get to win."

This frustrating envy was stemming from what I heard yesterday during her battle with Apollo. Asita, the beautiful and clever vixen, had an adoring family back home. Asita, who I had always observed as selfish, turned out to be almost _selfless_. Asita not only had a strong Career to protect her throughout a good portion of the games, but she also snagged another skilled tribute to carry her to victory!

"Asita has to kill someone she loves and gets to walk away from it completely fine!" I shrieked in frustration, "No revenge and no anger because she has her _lovely_ siblings back home to think about. Not to mention her _hilarious_ ally to brighten her day ten-fold!"

Another shriek made its way out of my throat as I let the frustration and jealousy rage through me like a forest fire.

"What do I have to look forward to, Miss Dolly?" I asked the dissembled figure, "An older brother who has always looked down upon me? A father who has never been around? A mother who I have never been 'perfect' enough for?"

Oh wait, I know. I get to look forward to going home and burying my possible half-brother. I get to sit through Thomas' funeral and watch as the only person who has somewhat understood me is put into the ground forever. I get to be surrounded by people for the rest of my life who are nowhere near as advanced as me. I get to be treated like a _freak._

"I made Apollo suffer for killing Thomas," I whispered, "Now I will make Asita suffer simply _because I can_. She thinks that she, a lower life-form, deserves more in life than me? She thinks she can just flaunt what she has for the Capitol to see and that she will get out of here alive? No… no she cannot."

_You are not thinking rationally. You swore that after you avenged Thomas you were not going to give into emotions again. You promised…_

"I am not doing this for Thomas," I yelled at myself, "I am doing this for me. I am doing this because it will be _amusing_."

I picked up a coil of wire and smiled. It appeared that it was time to play another game.

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Cami's POV:**

I walked down the hall and swung my sword by my side. I wouldn't say I was exactly 'hunting' for tributes as much as just seeing if I was going to stumble into one. After yesterday, I found myself feeling increasingly calmer. At this point in the games, the Gamemakers would force tributes to find each other if they had to. I didn't need to worry anymore about hunting them myself.

When I saw Apollo's face last night, I wasn't surprised in the slightest. I had completely screwed up one of his arms. Doing that had put him on pretty even fighting level with Asita. Did I know that it was Asita that killed him? No, but what I did know was that the Gamemakers would not let him die before some sort of confrontation between the two of them occurred. It just wasn't there style to leave a 'romance' without an ending. Those rich snobs in the Capitol ate that stuff up. Hell, even the people of District One loved it.

I tried to find it in myself to feel slightly bad about his death, but I really couldn't. To be fair, we had never gotten along that swimmingly. In fact, I never really got along with any of the Careers per say. The only person I seemed to somewhat get along with was Lucian and even his death was meaning less and less to me as the days went by. Perhaps it was because I had almost spent two weeks now in this arena, but the only life I cared about now was mine. Everyone else, alive or dead, were just fodder.

"That's not a very nice way to think about it," I murmured to myself as I walked into another room.

But… It was kind of true. Look, I would be the first to admit that I had a tendency to go for the dramatic flair. Simply running someone through with a sword wasn't very theatrical. I got a slight rush of adrenaline when I put on a show for the Capitol. Hell, Lucian even showed me that I personally got my rocks off from it, but how am I supposed to do that if I view these tributes as humans?

As much as it might surprise everyone, I didn't go around District One stabbing people or decapitating them. Sure, I got into some fights and played some nasty tricks, but I never killed anyone. As much as I hated some of the people I knew, I never wanted to see them dead… or, at least, I didn't want to be the one who did it. The point being, to me this was just a game. Twenty-four of us get put in here and all but one die. If I didn't do it, someone else would. Yes, I could just do it quick and simple… But if they're going to die, why not make it something to remember? If I was to die in this place, I would want someone to do it in an extravagant way.

I don't know, maybe it's a personal preference kind of thing.

"You should be paying a little more attention."

I spun around, completely surprised, and saw the girl from District Ten standing in the doorway. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were puffy. She looked almost like a completely different person from the girl I had seen yesterday. That girl seemed so soft and mousy. This one was hard and cold.

"You should have used the element of surprise," I mocked as I continued to walk around the small bedroom.

"Don't need to."

I laughed as I imagined this girl trying to take me down, "What, you're going to lasso me to death? Babe, that trick might work on some of the tributes but not me. I'm faster than you think."

"Fast enough to outrun a mutt?"

I looked back at her and saw a small, scaly creature enter the room. It let out a growl and glared at me. It was completely black, except for its bright red eyes. It stood on its two hind legs and reached the girl's waist. I noticed that it had long, slender claws and two transparent wings. It huffed at me once more and a small puff of flames escaped its nostrils.

"Why isn't that thing attacking you?" I asked warily, putting a table between us.

"Because it's mine," the girl replied with a monotone voice, "Adam and I found a special item a little while back. We couldn't figure out what it was, but I made him keep it. Last night I was furious and threw it into the fire. I quickly realized that it was an _egg_ and it just needed a little heat to hatch."

"And out popped a baby dragon," I finished as I backed up further, looking for a way to escape.

"Exactly," she nodded, "So I thought 'This changes everything… What should I do next?' You know what I decided?"

"I'm dying to know," I laughed shakily, feeling my confidence ebb away as I noticed the scales on the mutt appeared to be metallic.

"To come find you and watch my mutt devour you. Possibly give your skull a good couple kicks."

"How considerate of you. Did you also name it Adam, for poetic justice?" I jabbed.

"No, I think I'll name it Cami once you're dead. You both have a lot in common."

"Nice one. I hope coming up with that didn't keep you up all night."

"Kill her," the girl commanded.

The baby dragon let out an angry, yet oddly cute, roar as it waddled around the table. I backed up and held my sword forward. The one advantage I had was that I wasn't the only one who had no idea what this thing could do. From what I could tell, this little mutt didn't come with an instruction manual. This girl was in the dark just as much as I was.

Once it cleared the table, it dropped to all fours and growled. The next second, it charged swiftly and lunged at me viciously. I held my ground and pressed my sword to its neck as it forced me to the ground. It chomped savagely at me and my confidence sunk further as I saw that my sword wasn't even making a dent in its neck. I watched in horror as it opened its mouth further and flames began to develop in the back of its throat. I put all my strength into one push and slid slightly farther beneath it. I could feel the heat near the top of my head and I pushed myself under its left side. I brought my knees to my stomach and placed my feet on the mutt's side. I kicked and watched as the mutt stumbled over slightly.

I pulled myself to my feet by the bed and watched as the fire began to spread across the old wooden floor. I heard another roar and automatically moved to the left. Suddenly, a stream of flames followed me as I ran around the room. Just as I was about to clear the mutt's vision, I felt a small amount of pressure around my arm. With a sudden tug, I was pulled off balance and I hit the floor.

The girl stared at me with her rope around my arm.

"I underestimated you. I won't make the same mistake again," I hissed.

"You're right. You'll be dead. Come!"

I grabbed a knife with my other hand and severed the rope. I stood up and saw that the mutt had waddled back to her side.

"Fire!"

She pointed to the ground in front of me and I watched as an arc of flames cut me off from them. I looked frantically around the room and realized I was surrounded by fire. It was spiraling up the walls and coating the wooden ceiling. The girl and her mutt slammed the door behind them and I witnessed it suddenly becoming ablaze.

"I'm not dying," I yelled in panic as I frantically looked around the room for an escape. I stumbled to a window and began to pound against it uncontrollably. Even though I knew the glass was unbreakable I couldn't help but try to shatter it. I picked up a large chair and rammed it into the window. It bounced off and hit me in the face.

I fell to the floor and felt tears of frustration begin to roll down my face. The floor began to give away and I screamed as I was left on a small island in the corner. The flames began to crawl closer as if they were their own mutt.

A crash echoed into my ears and I looked to my left. Something in the wall had crumbled and had left a large hole nearby. I stood up and clenched my fists. I backed up to the window and sprinted forward. I attempted to jump through the flames into the adjacent room. I landed unsteadily and fell with a scream.

My face became numb and I shoved myself off the ground. I patted my arm furiously against a nearby couch and snuffed out the flames. A nearby burning smell met my nostrils and I realized my hair was on fire. I hysterically scrambled through my backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. I dumbed it on my head and was relieved when sizzling met my ears.

I glanced behind me and yelled in fright as I saw the flames approach me again. I ran to the door and slammed it open. The hallway was just beginning to catch fire, but it was spreading fast in this old wooden mansion. I began to feel unbearable pain and ache on the left side of my face, but I ignored it as I ran away from the fire. Tears of joy and fear ran down my face freely.

For the first time in days, I wasn't so sure that I had this in the bag.

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

"I hate them," I repeated to myself as I dragged Leith down another short corridor, "I hate them. I hate them. I hate them."

We turned the corner and a wall of fire met my sight. Why the Gamemakers decided to light this mansion on fire was beyond me. Were the games just not exciting enough for them? Were two deaths the day before just not good enough? God, I hate them.

We were resting on the highest floor of this building, attempting to avoid Ruby and her father. Leith was the first to smell the burning but I stupidly ignored him. There were fireplaces around this entire place. I assumed it was a nearby tribute and, in his current state, I wanted to avoid as many people as possible. Soon the smell was undeniable. I peeked out into the hallway and saw nothing. When I turned back to our room, I saw a small section of our floor was ablaze.

Yeah, no big deal. Just a small section.

As soon as I saw that, I grabbed Leith and our supplies and ran. However, by then it was almost too late. The fire must have spread along the lower floors and had made its way up to both sides of this floor. We were trapped between two infernos that were approaching rapidly.

"What is it?" Leith asked.

"There's fire on both ends. We have nowhere to go."

Leith stiffened and I could hear the fear in his voice as he asked, "We have _nowhere_ to go?"

"This way," I pulled open a nearby door.

Inside was a small room and I immediately knew better. I moved on to the next room and saw it was the same size. I opened the last door before the fire and observed that it was a large sitting area. I pushed Leith inside and shut the door behind me.

The other end of the room was on fire, but I could see a small opening in the floor. I tugged Leith across the room and peered into the opening. A wooden support beam was sticking out and I saw it slid down to next floor. The room below us was completely ablaze, but the room the wooden beam ended in was one hundred percent fine.

"They must be containing the fire," I murmured to myself, "They're only destroying a section of the mansion."

"What?" Leith asked.

"Nothing," I replied, "Listen quickly. In front of us is some sort of support beam. I'm going to lead you to it and you need to shimmy down it. Keep sliding and shuffling until you feel a steady, firm surface beneath you. Once you feel that, move in the opposite direction you're facing in case the fire keeps spreading."

"Ok." He said without confidence, almost sounding like a small child.

"You'll be fine. Just don't fall."

As I lead his foot to the beam, I decided not to mention the fire beneath us. No point in making him any more nervous than I had to. I glanced behind me as I guided his body down the beam slightly. The fire was beginning to approach from all sides. As I put his hands on the top of the beam, I heard a large snap.

"What was that?" Leith yelled in panic.

I noticed a crack was beginning to appear in the floor where the beam was resting. The combination of the fire and our weight was weakening the floor. The beam wasn't going to hold for both of us.

For a second, an image of me stomping on his hand and sending him into the flames appeared in my mind.

No, I owed him my life. I couldn't kill him until we were even. I couldn't let him die like this…

"Nothing, just go," I lied, "I promise you'll be fine."

I stood up and watched him begin to shimmy down the beam.

I backed away from the crack and yelled, "I'll meet you down there."

"How?"

"There's another way up here, just go," I lied again.

I spun around and observed the area around me. The flames had engulfed the room. The only intact place I could see was where we had entered. I glanced back, hoping that I was wrong. Surely enough, another loud snap met my ears and I watched as the beam began to slip. I heard him yell, but no cannon rang out.

I stepped back and readied myself. I leapt through the flames and sprinted until I reached the door. I swiftly whipped my double sided sword off my back and cut off the blazing fabric of my dress. I rushed out the door. I looked up and saw that parts of the ceiling had fallen in. Heavy rain was hitting the flames and taming them slightly. Whether it was the actual rain beginning to put out the fire or Gamemakers, I didn't know or care.

Even though the fire was starting to be put out, I wasn't safe. Flames were still approaching and the floor was giving out in random places. I looked to my left and saw that a majority of it was still aflame. To my right, there were small platforms still intact and the fire was minimal. I peeked over the edge and saw the same raging fire below as before.

I quelled the fear inside of me and readied myself to jump to the nearest platform. I picked my feet up off the ground and lunged through the air. I screamed in terror as I began to fall like a rock and my hands barely made contact with the edge. I looked down and felt the heat spread across my legs. I continued to scream as I used all my strength to pull myself up. I hitched one leg over the side and rolled onto the platform. I hugged the wall and shrieked as the platform began to move.

_You have to be brave, Ruth. Be brave, just like you've always been._

I stood up and forced myself to stop shaking. I was plenty of things, most of them bad, but one was courageous. I had always been the first to dive into any situation and come out on top. This wasn't going to be any different.

I stumbled forward and hopped to the next patch of wooden floor. I observed the two planks of wood connecting the small strip I was standing on to a larger one. I knew that my chances of making that jump without momentum were slim to none. I got on my hands and knees and began to crawl across the planks. I could feel them bend under my weight and everything in my body screamed for me to go back. I fought all of my instincts and continued forward.

Right as I was about to make it to my destination, the boards gave out from under me. I shrieked and lunged forward. The tips of my fingers gripped the floor and it shifted towards me, causing one of my hands to lose grip. I yelled in agony as I hung on. I looked down and saw a small area on within the flames untouched. It was some sort of stone object, possibly a large slab from the roof. I began to swing myself forward and then backwards carefully. I grabbed the area above me with my other hand again and began to swing furiously. I could feel it giving away, slowly sliding, but I just continued to build my momentum. Right as it gave away, I let go and went flying forward.

I hit the stone and rolled across it. My head slammed onto the stone and I stopped just short of tumbling into a sea of fire. I felt the blood trickling down my face and stood up. I gazed around and spotted where the fire stopped. It was almost as if it was a glass barrier keeping it in, but I could see the flames flicker slightly across the boundary before they went out.

"Now or never," I encouraged myself as I felt myself begin to become extremely dizzy and light-headed from the smoke.

With a one final breath, I took a leap of faith and jumped. I could feel the flames licking my legs as I soared over them. I tumbled past the invisible barrier and scurried away. Blood began to cloud my vision and I wiped it away furiously. My legs tingled slightly but I knew the burns weren't bad. I was extremely lucky and I found myself praying for the first time in years. I wondered slightly why I was praying after the situation where I needed protection, but I continued to pray thankfully none the less.

I quickly remembered Leith and began to run out of the room. I didn't believe I had heard a cannon but I was so focused on surviving I could have missed it. I raced to the nearest stairwell and pounded up the steps. I took a right and busted into the room where the beam had led. I glanced around the empty space and saw that the beam was missing. I gazed to my left and sighed when I saw Leith huddled in a corner. He held his spear out menacingly and I quickly remembered he couldn't see it was me.

"It's Ruth," I called out as I approached him.

He visibly relaxed and began to stand up, "Just being cautious."

"You ok?"

"No wounds. What about you?"

"Nothing I can't treat myself," I calmly replied as I began to dig through the knapsack he was carrying. I pulled out a small role of gauze and looked around for a mirror.

"Looks like everyone made it out of the fire," he commented.

"Yeah. From the looks of it the Gamemakers only took out a fourth of the mansion."

"Including Ruby's room. Do you think the mutt survived?"

I shrugged even though he couldn't see it, "Her, uh, dad took her to some sort of chapel. I'm assuming she's ok, but you never know. I wasn't exactly keeping watch to see if she returned to her room."

I wetted some of the gauze and messily cleaned my wound. I found myself looking at Leith in the background. That was it, a life for a life. I had paid my debt. I could leave right now and not feel guilty in the slightest. Yet, the thought of leaving a blind Leith to defend for himself seemed horrible. He couldn't care for himself, let alone fight. He wasn't a danger to me…

_Unless you count the fact that if he wasn't around you could have been the one to shimmy down the beam._

No, he was my ally. He may be a Career, but he was blind now. The fact that I had to take care of him wasn't a good enough reason to leave him high and dry. It's not like he was dangerous to anyone anymore. My debt may be paid, but he was still my… ally… right?

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Winnifred's POV:**

Red, blue, yellow… Red, blue, yellow…

**Look at you, wandering around like a little idiot. Are you going to do anything productive?**

_It's over… It's all over… You might as well just end it now._

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can-

I swam through the dark, murky ocean. I tried to find some sort of light, but all I could find were dark caverns. The water felt cold on my skin and gave me goose bumps. I could feel different creatures gliding past me, but they weren't dangerous. They were my friends. Sometimes, a ray of light would burst through and I would find pieces of coral or starfish. Starfish of red, blue, yellow… red, blue, yellow…

**Maybe you could kill someone again? That's what you are, a killer!**

_She's not a killer… She's just scared… Too scared to get out of here alive…_

Roll it, pat it, mark it with a B-

"Most sea stars also have the remarkable ability to consume prey outside their bodies. Using tiny, suction-cupped tube feet, they pry open clams or oysters, and their sack-like cardiac stomach emerges from their mouth and oozes inside the shell. The stomach then envelops the prey to digest it, and finally withdraws back into the body," I spoke aloud to Admyer.

I turned around and saw him smiling at me. We were now in a large field of flowers. I smiled as I saw a butterfly float by and land on an opening bud. Another butterfly flew by and landed on Admyer's nose. I giggled as he scrunched his face in disgust and it flew to the top of his head.

"Isn't this nice, Fred?" I heard someone ask.

I turned to my right and saw my mother sitting with a blanket. I ran over to her and plopped into her lap. She smiled reassuringly at me and held me as the wind flew through our hair. I could feel leaves and petals tangle themselves in our locks, but I couldn't find it in me to care.

"Your father is on his way. We'll be able to see him soon," she commented.

I nodded in agreement and enjoyed the feeling of her soft hands. I watched as the flowers swayed in the breeze. Flowers of red, blue, yellow… red, blue, yellow…

**Blood! Blood is red! Do you remember Lucian's blood?**

_Tears… Tears are blue… Do you remember all of the tears you've shed…?_

Cake, Cake is yellow. Put it in the oven for baby and me-

I opened my eyes and found myself in a white room. There were no windows and no doors. I shook my head and glanced around. I didn't like this room… This room was so small. I searched each corner of the room, looking for some sort of exit. I could feel the walls closing in on me. I hated this room… Why did I keep coming back to this room! I glanced around for my mother and Admyer. They weren't in the room with me… Why weren't they in the room with me?

Suddenly, I noticed a golden archway. I blinked and it morphed into a small, wooden door with light streaming through the cracks. I blinked again and it was the same golden archway, this time with butterflies soaring out of it. I walked to the portal and began to step through it. The butterflies swarmed around me. Butterflies of red, blue, yellow… red, blue, yellow…

**You know you want to do it again. You want to kill someone, you sick monster!**

_She doesn't want to kill anyone… Except for herself…_

Roll it up, roll it up; put it in a pan-

I emerged from the portal and found myself in a land of many things. Waterfalls fell in the distance and many suns were hanging in the sky. I was surrounded by rolling hills and atop each hill were beautiful creatures. Father was standing in the distance, petting a horse of some kind.

I began to walk towards him as I recited, "Horses' hooves grow approximately 0.25 in a month, and take nearly a year to grow from the coronet band to the ground."

My father spun around and smiled. His hair was shining in the bright light and it forced me to blink.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in an unfamiliar environment. The walls were made completely of stone and lights hung from the ceiling. Tables surrounded the room, each stacked high with different body parts. A man in a shiny coat and glasses was standing over a body with a crazed gleam in his eyes.

I screeched and covered my eyes. When I opened them, I was back in the beautiful world and father was approaching me.

"Father?" I asked as he neared.

"Yes, beautiful child?"

"Dad," I smiled as I ran to him and hugged him.

I couldn't help but smile now that I had found my beloved father. Now I could bring him to mother, and Admyer could meet them both. I just had to find them again…

"You will make such a beautiful figurine."

Suddenly, I felt numb. I couldn't feel my body and I stepped away from father. Everything began to rapidly switch between the hell I had seen moments ago and this beautiful world. My father kept changing into a different man and then back into himself. I stumbled to the ground and gasped as lost complete control of my body. It began to feel as if liquid fire was running through my veins. A loud bang met my ears and my vision began to swirl with colors. Colors of red, blue, yellow…. Red, blue, yellow…

** It looks like you can't kill anyone else. Shame, I was hoping to see some action.**

_Sleep… Now there will be no more pain… No more tears… No pain ever again…_

And toss it in the oven as fast as you can!

* * *

><p><strong>So there we have it! The Final Eight!<strong>

** Eulogies!**

** Winnifred- You were one of my all-time favorite tributes. Each SYOT there is one tribute who is special to me in a cute/child-like way (even if they are not a child in the slightest). This year you were that tribute and I was tossing and turning at the thought of killing you. However, the minute I knew your backstory involving your mother I knew I was going to make you crack. It was just part of who you were. You were too sweet and soft for the Hunger Games.**

** Anyways, for those of you who didn't understand what happened, Winnifred walked right into Daddy's workshop. He thought she was beautiful and decided to make her into another doll so he could preserve her beauty forever. For him to do that, he killed her. **

** I hope this chapter was action-packed enough for you guys ;D and there's a new poll on my profile so go vote! **

** Things are definitely going to pick up and we are getting extremely close to the end of the games! **

** See you later!**

** Europa**


	49. Day Thirteen: Part One: Win

**Day Thirteen: Win**

**Part One:**

**District One:**

**Cami's POV:**

I rolled over as the sunlight suddenly hit my eyes. I tried to hide from it, but I could feel the heat radiating against my back. Soon, the sunlight became too harsh and I sat up. I shifted out of the rays streaming in from the broken ceiling. I rested my head back against a burnt wall and closed my eyes again.

Yesterday, I was completely terrified. Never in my life had I been so scared of death, mainly because I had never thought about it. It was a topic I steered clear from and didn't even try to ponder, at least when it came to myself. Funny how I been involved in killing several people and was now just thinking about what happened once you died.

No, that wasn't true. A long, long time ago I had pondered what death was like. Do you want to know what my very first memory was?

The very first thing I remember about life is sitting in my living room… waiting. I remember waiting with excitement as my mother, father, and another woman were in my parent's bedroom. I remember thinking about how great it was going to be to have a little sibling, just like my older brother had me. I remember the spike of concern as my mother's screams reached a crescendo and then suddenly died out. I remember the shrieks of newborn babe. No other noise but those shrieks.

The image that sticks out in my mind was the expression my father had when he walked out of that room holding a small child. It was an expression that reeked of grief, shock, and _hatred_. It was hatred for the small creature that had, unknowingly, killed my mother. It was an expression that I soon learned to mimic and carry with me everywhere I went. It was something that _became_ me. I became a creature of shock, grief, and hatred… A creature of pain.

I thought of death when my mother's funeral came around. I thought about where she was now and why, if there was some sort of deity, it wouldn't let her come back. If something had created each person and body, couldn't it have planned for the complications during the childbirth? Couldn't it have kept both people alive?

After that, I stopped thinking of death or the afterlife. I thought about _killing_. I observed how the Careers, year after year, killed tributes: arrow to the head, body thrown into lava, or axe to the chest. I watched, learned, and waited for when I could join in the fun and display my own ways of killing people. I thought about how I could show some little girl in District One that you could convince all of your allies to hate each other and, in turn, kill one another. For years and years I thought about the showmanship of it all and I did think about, even relish, the pain the dying went through.

But I didn't think about death itself. I didn't delve into the fact that they would never have another meal or laugh at a joke. I refused to even ponder if their 'soul' went somewhere afterwards. I was just focused on the Hunger Games and myself.

"And I still am!" I laughed out loud.

This wasn't some change of heart, babe.

I quickly realized I still didn't care that the other tributes were dead. All I cared about was the fact that _I_ had almost died. I was terrified of not getting out of here and continuing to be alive. The mere thought of me not _being_ anymore could almost freeze my entire body.

I stood up shakily and began to look around the ruined room. Why I had stayed the night here I still didn't know. After I had escaped, I was almost put into a catatonic state. I had sat by the edge of the flames and gazed at them. Once they had completely disappeared, I hobbled back to this room and collapsed. All I remembered was falling asleep almost instantly on this cold, _disgusting_ floor.

Wait… The floor wasn't that gross yesterday… Was it?

I took a step forward and winced. After my adrenaline had dissipated yesterday, I painfully realized I had sprained my left ankle. It was nothing some rest and time wouldn't fix, but I wasn't sure I had either. It was almost two weeks into the Hunger Games. At this point, everything could end in a matter of hours if the Gamemakers decided it was a good decision.

I passed by a black window covered with ash and stared at my reflection. I touched the left side of my face tenderly and sighed. I wasn't like the typical District One girl when it came to beauty, but I could still feel my vanity tugging at me. Falling into the fire had burned the entire left side of my face, bar my eye and nose. The marks were ugly and fleshy. They could easily become infected if I didn't keep them clean.

"Sleeping on a dirty floor _really_ helped with that," I mumbled sarcastically to myself as I grabbed a knife.

The hair on the left side of my face was burned to a crisp. I began to cut through the remains and then moved on to the right side. I attempted to make them match as evenly as I could. I put the knife away and looked at my almost crew cut like hair.

"You may look a lot different," I stated to my reflection, "but you're still the same girl who came in here. You're a fighter. You're a _victor_."

I glanced at the collapsed wall to my right and stared at the shining outdoors. The dew was glimmering on the grass and the forest appeared to be a safe haven. A could hear birds chirping and saw a small rabbit hop by.

"Yeah right," I laughed.

I picked up a charred floorboard and tossed it outside. As soon as it met the area where the wall had previously been, electricity surrounded it and it turned to ash.

"The reason there's no way out and why we can't bust these windows," I growled, "Is because this is the edge of the arena. I'm not stupid enough to just waltz into an electric barrier and die. 'A' for effort, though. You really did make it look really pretty and appealing."

Whether the Gamemakers were actually listening to me or not, I had no clue.

Frankly, I didn't care. They could go screw themselves. They're the ones who thought it would be a good idea to give a tribute a freaking _dragon_.

I turned around and began to pick up my supplies. No matter what happened, I was getting out of here alive. No matter how close death came to me, I wasn't stepping over that boundary. If I had to, I would kill every single tribute left in this arena.

That's what the Hunger Games are. They die and I win.

End of story.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

I woke up on one of the cots and winced. As I moved my arm, I felt a wispy and silky substance run across my face. I opened my eyes and yelled in surprise. I scrambled out of the bed and ran my hands up and down myself frantically.

I woke up covered in cobwebs.

I looked around the tiny, cell-like room and saw that it was completely different. The wallpaper was slowly peeling off of the wall and cobwebs were spread around every corner of the room. I quickly snatched up my meager supplies and left the room.

As I stepped out into the long, large hallway I jumped again. Although light was streaming in through the windows, it appeared darker than ever before. The ceiling was dank and I could see mold growing along the walls. The carpet was faded and dust covered almost every object.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, completely flabbergasted.

It was like it had been decades since I had woken up.

I heard movement to my right and spun towards it. Standing three feet in front of me was one of Ruby's dolls, except she seemed different. A large crack zig-zagged down her face and I could see cracks all along her arms. Her hair was black and flaccid and some sort of substance was streaked through it.

I began to back away slowly, but the doll continued to step forward. Suddenly, she leapt at me and I could see the gleam of a knife. I yelped in surprise and ducked to my left. I sprinted past her and didn't look back. I could hear her keeping up with me easily.

I reached the main staircase and began to descend it. I spotted two male dolls walking around the hallway and they both looked at me. Blood oozed down their eyes and they opened their mouths in anger. A guttural howl sounded from them and blood bubbled out of their mouths.

I glanced behind me and saw the girl was rounding the corner. The two male mutts charged up the staircase. I swiftly hopped onto the broken railing and jumped. I tumbled to the ground and a dull ache coursed through my legs.

I pushed against two large doors that were placed in between the stairwells. They gave in with a slight resistance and I remembered that they had been previously locked. I ran into the room and looked for another exit.

It was some sort of ballroom. Pillars ran along the sides of the room, creating a large U shape, and I could see a large window at the end of the room. It showed the small garden with a stream that was located in the middle of the house.

I could hear the dolls piling into the room and I dove behind one of the large pillars. I sat in the shadows as I listened to their groans and footsteps. I gripped the handle of my hammer and my hand began to shake slightly. I grabbed my wrist with my other hand and forced it to stop moving.

I peeked around the corner and finally spotted a door hidden in the dimness near the entrance. I began to dance through the shadows and tried to bounce between the wall and the pillars. As I neared another pillar I saw the small girl turn the corner. I immediately raised my hammer and brought it down on her temple with as much force as I could.

She clattered to the ground and her limbs flopped in unnatural directions. I could hear the two other muttations begin to approach my spot and I bounded into a sprint. I bolted into the room and frantically looked around. I saw a small vanity stool and grabbed it. I slammed the doors shut and placed it under the doorknob. Loud beatings and moans met my ears as the jammed door creaked.

I searched around the dark room for some sort of light source. I felt my way around the edge until I found a switch. I raised it, praying that the electricity still ran through this room. Luckily, one lamp in the corner turned on. It casted an eerie glow across the room that sent chills down my spines. The room was obviously a small dressing and powder room. It was most likely supposed to be used by the ladies in between songs or dances.

I plopped down on a lavish, velvet stool and tried to block out the noises the muttations were making. They would eventually go away. I tried to figure out what had happened to them. Last time I saw the dolls they were sitting silently in Ruby's room. They were pristine and beautiful. They certainly did not have blood dripping out of their eyes or wielded knives.

The beating continued, even louder. Winnifred would attempt to figure out another escape route out of this small room. She would make her own exit if she had to or come up with some brilliant plan to distract the muttations. She was the smart one. I just helped execute her plans.

When I saw her face last night during the death toll, it felt like someone had snuck me a piece of rotten flesh. I was overcome with nausea and chills ran throughout my entire body. All I could do was stare at her face and notice how similar she looked in that picture to the girl I had left wandering the basement. They both had the same faraway look and smiled at you like they knew something you didn't.

Yet, I knew now that I had made the right decision. The girl in the picture was still _there_. She had light twinkling in her eyes and you could practically see the cogs turning in her head. The girl I left was empty and void... Nothing.

It didn't stop it from hurting. It didn't stop the guilt that would erratically stab my heart. It didn't stop my own feeling of loneliness every time I realized I was by myself.

It just made it ok to keep going.

I knew it was a touchy subject, but I found myself countless times thinking about what I would do if it came down to Winnifred and me. At first, I thought I would make it quick. I'd snap her neck or knock her unconscious with my hammer. However, as time went by and I continued to think about it… I couldn't see myself hurting her. She was the model of innocence: sweet, naïve, and fragile. How could I live with myself if I destroyed it?

Well, I didn't have to. Lucian did that for me. He _broke_ her. He showed her the rotting skull that used to be her ally. He drove her to killing him. I tried to pick up the pieces and put them back together. It just wouldn't hold. The glue… The foundation was swept away.

I did everything I could and _that's_ why I can keep going on.

That's why I'm going to win for the both of us.

* * *

><p><strong>Mentor's POV:<strong>

**District Twelve:**

**Ophelia's POV:**

"How are you not freaking out?" Memory asked shakily as she sat down next to me outside.

"Everything will work out, one way or another," I replied calmly as I sipped at my hibiscus tea.

"So you trust her?"

"Of course not, but why would I worry about something I have no control over. I just have to sit back and watch everything play out." I sighed.

"This coming from the one who planned all of this from the beginning?" Ruth laughed darkly.

"It's an easy lesson to learn when you have no choice but to watch your children die."

The wind began to pick up as Memory replied softly, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to-"

"You're scared," I smiled sadly, "So is everyone else. President Raven has never been one to baby the victors. The odds of our lives becoming miserable are high… I understand once we get through this if you drop out."

"Drop out?" she asked.

"If you stop fighting against this," I motioned to the area around us, "If she doesn't kill you, she'll kill someone you love. It's how every President has worked and she is no different. She knows love and heartache are her two greatest weapons."

"If she kills someone... I love… I just _can't_. I can't think like that Ophelia. I'm still trying to cope with what happened to Winnie... I just can't right now."

The smell of freesia wafted across my nostrils. The sun was barely peeking out behind some clouds, as if it didn't want to see what happened next. The only noise that was carried to us was the faint sound of rushing cars. Besides that, if felt as if we were in our own peaceful garden.

"I understand that it hurts… But everything hurts for me. Every breath I breathe hurts. Each time I blink I'm in pain. There is no solace in this life for me anymore."

I could feel Memory's piercing gaze on me as she whispered, "Ophelia…"

"For me, I either fight or I die. If I stop fighting for even a second, it's over for me. I can't live myf life anymore, Memory."

"What if we… win? What will you do when there is nothing more to fight?"

I smiled at the ground and whispered, "Then I join my family."

The wind blew even harder and Memory's copper hair hit my face. I wiped it away and stood up. I tossed my drink and began to walk away from the gazebo towards the Control Center. I could feel Memory behind me as I opened the doors and entered the building.

I immediately found Ruth on the screens and saw that she was fighting off several mutts with Leith. Even though his vision was close to gone, Leith managed to take on one of the mutts without Ruth's instructions. He wasn't out for the count just yet.

"He's using her," I stated as I took a seat next to Cody, my fellow district mentor.

He looked at me, completely perplexed.

"Leith," I answered, "He's a Career and still the strongest in the entire arena. All he needs is a pair of eyes and Ruth fits the bill quite nicely."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying he's going to take her to the final four or three. Then he's going to have her find the remaining tributes. Once he knows where they are, he's going to run her through without a second thought."

"He'll need her to lead him to them or through the arena at the very least!" Cody exclaimed.

"No, look," I pointed as Leith stepped over a fallen mutt on his own accord.

"It's not like he got his eyes gouged out. They're just damaged. He must still be able to see some things if there is enough light. He can still touch, smell, and hear. Once he realizes that there is more to fighting than vision, he'll be just as dangerous as he was before. He'll be different, but a force nonetheless."

"How do you always know so much?" Cody asked, amazed.

"I've seen a boy get his eyes gouged out," I stated, "I've also seen a girl tumble into a room of poisonous gas and impair her vision. The boy who got his eyes removed didn't last very long. He hid and stayed alive a day or so. Then a Career found him and killed him."

"What happened to the girl?"

"She went on to win the 213th Hunger Games," I stated as I pointed to the District Six victor, Naomi Picou, "I'm surprised you don't remember. She won only five years before you did."

"I didn't watch the Hunger Games when I was younger," Cody admitted meekly, "It was easy to get away with it when your parents ran two busy merchant stalls."

"My point is this; don't ever underestimate someone," I lectured, "Naomi is the only living victor from District Six and she never even killed anyone. So imagine what I Career could do if he was in her shoes."

"I suppose you're right… I mean, you always are," he smiled.

"You have to start learning for when I'm gone. I'm not always going to be here to correct you."

"Hey, you're not going anywhere anytime soon. You're only in your fifties," he laughed.

I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. There was a reason I never once tried to involve him in the rebellion. He was too childlike for it. Now that he was out of the Hunger Games, he viewed his life as a leisurely stroll. Not that I blamed him exactly. Just like me, he came from a wealthy background in District Twelve. He had everything he ever needed in life and, once he won the Hunger Games, got everything he ever wanted.

He hadn't come to realize that there were strings attached to it.

I didn't despise or pity him because of it. In fact, it was actually endearing. Still, it meant he was too soft to fight. He wouldn't have lasted a second in that room with Lavender.

I looked behind me at the blackened window above. I knew she was back there. She was waiting for _something_. She had a plan and she was going to execute it at the perfect moment… _That_ much I trusted. The thing was… I understood Lavender. No matter what happened in the future, I was going to be okay. If she was with us, the rebellion would start. If she was against us, I would be joining my loved ones very shortly.

Either way, I won.

* * *

><p><strong>District Three:<strong>

**Valhalla's POV:**

"Tick tock, tick tock," I sighed as I paced the room.

I held the knife up to the sunlight and sent its beams flying around the room. I watched as it skipped across wires that danced across the ceiling. They gleamed greedily, waiting for what was to come.

"I suppose they are going to make me do everything," I sighed as I turned my arm over.

I walked to the other end of the room and opened the door. I walked down the stairs and peered around the corner. I could hear slight commotion down the opposite end of the hallway, but I ignored it. Asita and Hawk were nowhere near it. I swiftly slashed my forearm and screamed as loudly as I could. I continued my high-pitched screech as I wiped my blood along the walls. I let my scream slowly die out as I squeezed the blood out of my arm. It dripped down the stairs as I ascended them.

As soon as I entered the room, I left the door open half-way and began to leave a trail of blood behind some crates on the right side of the room. Once I reached the crates, I took a strip of fabric that I had retrieved from my dress yesterday and tied it around my arm. I applied pressure and more strips of cloth as I scurried to the left side of the room. As soon as I could, I had ripped off that senseless outfit and changed back into my jumpsuit.

It was much more efficient.

As I sat in the darkness, I knew someone would come looking. The Final Eight was here and no one would leave a wounded tribute alone. At this point in the games, you always had to strike while the iron was hot. If you did not, you would very likely die to previously said injured tribute later on. At least, that was the logic behind it… Logic I planned to use to execute the remaining tributes.

It was practically full proof. An enemy walks right into a trap, thinking they were going to cause the final blow. It was like putting a scrap of food in sight of a starving person. They were not going to see the bear trap until it was around their leg.

I heard footsteps echoing down the corridor. A light muffle of voices reached my ears and I smiled. They were just making this too simple for me. The stairs creaked under their weight as the approached. The door slowly began to swing open and I witnessed Hawk and Asita begin to near the crates.

I casually stood up and activated my item. The bracelet whirled to life and encased my hand in a metal glove. A soft buzzing sound began to emit from it and my two victims spun around.

"I would not move an inch if I were you."

"And why is that," Asita snarled as she pulled a dagger out.

"Those crates are covered in an explosive chemical," I lied as I shot a small spark of electricity into the air, "A tiny spark would send you both flying in _very_ minute pieces."

Both of their bodies froze and I smiled even wider knowing that they had believed my lie whole heartedly.

"Then why wait?" she asked.

"I believe you know why. I want to play a little game. Ask you a few questions."

"Why would we answer any of your questions?" Hawk growled.

"Statistically speaking, one of you will live if you do. If you do not, you will both die. I believe the choice should be an easy one."

I began to circle to the door and I slammed it shut with my foot. They both glared at me defiantly. Hawk, surprisingly enough, had the same fighting spirit that I admired in Asita. It was going to be fun to _crush_ it.

I laughed outwardly as I stated, "In case you did not understand, the best choice would be for you to play along."

"Oh, we got it," Asita snapped.

"First question," I began, "Tell me why the other person deserves to live more than you."

They both looked slightly perplexed, obviously taken aback by the command.

"Did you think I was going to ask you about your favorite childhood memory or what your favorite color is? Now answer."

"He should live because he's a better fighter," Asita replied without missing a beat, "He can mow down the competition. Without him, you might as well kill me anyways."

Hawk looked confused by her answer, but then began, "She should live because she has a family to take care of. They need her."

"Interesting," I mused as I paced by the door, "Next question. Why should I kill the other person?"

"He's a bigger threat. We both know that I can't kill you, but he can."

I smiled at Asita's cold response as he answered, "She has it out for you. I honestly don't even know you."

I hummed in approval as I contemplated my next question. I had expected more of a fight… a struggle, if you will. The Asita I knew would be insulting me at every turn and demeaning me in some way with eaceh answer. Instead, she was giving me exactly what I wanted to hear. She was being logical while Hawk was being emotional.

I enjoyed logic.

"You are the leader of a mythical city that is overpopulated. The citizens are eating more than they can produce. A famine is beginning to hit and sickness it spreading like wildfire. What do you do?"

"Easy," Asita responded immediately, "I sent the sick outside the city walls to die. With them gone, we have enough to eat and we are no longer overpopulated."

"I… I guess I try to ration the food out equally?" Hawk questioned.

"I do not know. Do you?" I countered.

"Yes, yes I do."

I nodded at his answer and continued, "Three people are sitting in front of you. The one on the left is a mercenary who was hired to kill a band of travelers. The one in the middle is a mother of five children who abuses each child in some way. The one on the right is a drug smuggler who has many enemies, but just as many clients. You must kill one. Who do you choose?"

"I kill the mercenary. No one will come after me," Hawk responded swiftly.

"I kill all of them. There will be no witnesses to say I did it," Asita smiled as she flipped her hair.

"This is quite fun," I leered as I held my knife up to the light again.

"I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself," Asita replied sarcastically.

"Oh I am. I believe I found out some very intriguing things. Hawk likes to think with his heart. He takes other people into consideration and seems to have some sort of moral compass… But, Asita, you apparently answer with logic. You pick whatever benefits you best and are willing to make the tough calls."

I watched as Asita's confidence faltered slightly. She was lying. She was only saying those things to please me or distract me. She did not know whether to agree or disagree. She believed she was dealing with a crazy person. What she did not seem to grasp was that I was not _crazy_.

I was a scholar.

"This means you win." I smiled.

"I… win?" she asked, "People don't win your games, Valhalla. I've seen that first hand."

"This one has a winner and you are it," I stated, "Now kill him."

"What?" they both exclaimed.

I shot an arc of lightening at their feet and snarled, "If your answers were truthful, killing him should not be a problem. If you want, I can make it easy for you."

I sent a large bolt of electricity sailing through the air and it hit Hawk square in the chest. He flew back and was sent sliding into the far corner. Asita screamed in shock and we watched as Hawk's body twitched fitfully.

"Go do it. He will not fight you now. Just one well-placed stab and you are free to leave."

Asita stood frozen on the spot. For the first time since they entered the room, I could not tell what she was thinking. I had no idea if she was trying to think of a way out of the situation or if she was contemplating doing it.

"These boxes have nothing in them or on them. I know a lie when I hear one."

I smiled as I played along, "If you knew, then why did you not fight back?"

"Knowing you, there is another deadly trick somewhere else in this room. I was hoping to find it."

"And you did not," I finished, "But why give away your 'plan'? Are you consenting to killing him?"

"I know a lie when I hear one," Asita repeated as she glared at me, "and no one wins your games. If I kill him, you're going to kill me seconds later."

"Oh Brava!" I cheered, "You truly are the mastermind of this decade. Figuring out that I am not going to let one of you go… That must have taken all of your brain power to come up with."

"Then do it already," Asita snarled, "Unleash this _almighty_ trap of yours."

"Why are you tempting me," I pouted teasingly, "I thought we were having so much fun."

"No, Valhalla. No one is having any fun but you. I'm not, Hawk isn't, and you know who else didn't?"

"Who?" I smirked.

"Thomas," Asita sneered viciously, "He's not having any fun because he's dead and I can promise you he wasn't having any fun with you around."

I felt my resentment begin to surface again as she purposefully insulted me. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to make me furious. She was playing the mind games now.

It was working.

"In fact, I'm pretty sure he thought you were completely _psychotic_."

"We enjoyed each other's company," I argued.

"He was afraid of you, Valhalla. What, did you think he loved you or something stupid like that? How could anyone love _you_?"

Her catty, fake laugh echoed off the walls. I knew it was forced and ingenuine. I knew she was provoking me and saying whatever she could to anger me. I knew her game because only she could do it so convincingly.

"You're wrong about one thing, Asita. Someone does win all of my games."

I pointed to the wires above her that were covered in explosive chemicals. As she looked up, I shot another charge of energy at Hawk.

Her gaze darted over to him as I cackled, "_I win_."

I sent one last arc of electricity overhead. It coiled through the air like a helix. The chemicals reacted to the heat. It spread down the lines and began to combust.

I opened the door behind me and left as the ceiling collapsed on top of Asita.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliff hanger!<strong>

**Before I get to the part where I talk about the usual stuff, I want to let something be known. I'm so proud of the following I have and am happy for every single reader, truly. However, when I see that (as of now) 24 people have voted on my poll but only 8 people decided to give me feedback last chapter… Well, it is quite disheartening. **

**Now, don't get me wrong, I get it. Life is busy and hectic. There are stories that I read on fan fiction and I don't review either. Sometimes, I'm not in the mood and I just don't want to review and that is **_**ok**_**. **

**However, I've decided on something. I have this little thing I'm now calling a 'blacklist' if you will. I have the name of every submitter I've ever had for an SYOT and it is now on this nice, concise list in front of me. There will be one, final SYOT after this and I want it to be the best it can possibly be. If you're on this list and you haven't been a part of this journey with me (i.e. communicating with me, reviewing), you're tribute will not be accepted. I will be accepting tributes from **_**new**_** readers, constant reviewers, and several fellow authors on fan fiction (you hopefully know who you are. If not, PM me). If worse comes to worse, I'll fill up the spaces with my own tributes.**

**I am a writer and I love developing my own characters. I'm not afraid to have my own tributes in my Hunger Games. In fact, it is way easier that way. However, the reason I do SYOTS is because it's fun to get other people involved! I love the satisfaction of taking someone else's character and breathing life into them! I love to hear feedback from these people and go on this journey together! **

**That being said, this isn't a threat. It is me letting you know and giving you a chance. If you want to be a part of the next SYOT, then start reviewing. If you just want to read and enjoy it, that's fine too! I'm just putting down a clear line for everyone. **

**Anyways, the reasoning behind this new rule is simple. I used to be (and I still do treasure) obsessed with getting reviews. At first, I used a sponsor system to encourage. Next, I threatened to kill of the tributes of those not reviewing (which later did not seem fair to the characters that were now mine). After that, another form of sponsorship. Then, in between all kinds of begging and pleading. **

**Well, I've come to realize that reviews aren't everything. I am giving you free entertainment and I am just happy that you take time out of your day to read it. However, what is important to me is my story. If you want to be a part of it, you need to review. I'm not going to just let people have a part in it and then just leave. It's not only unfair to the story, but it's unfair to me. I can create my own characters for my own plots if I want to. Making someone else's idea come to life is much harder for me then creating my own. **

**In fact, you might be able to see the struggle if I give an example. There is a tribute currently still alive who's creator just left (I will not name names). They haven't reviewed since the bloodbath **_**maybe**_**. Yet, I see them constantly review on another story that I am a frequent reader of. That actually does affect my self-esteem with my own story. To me that says "This person's story is much, much better than yours and yours isn't even good enough for me to jot down a quick review… Even though my tribute is still alive and a likely contender for victor. In fact, you don't even deserve me telling you what I don't like/what is keeping me from giving you feedback that is how bad it is". **

**It discourages me from writing and I will not, next story, be giving any person that kind of power over me. I have to believe my story is good; otherwise it starts to become bad. I start to put less effort into it and I start to give up on it, believing that it's just not good enough.**

**And that's just not fair.**

**Anyways, I'm done with this rant/pity party. Thank you all for reading my story and, if you did, taking the time to read my author's note. **

**I'll see you next time**

**Europa**


	50. Day Thirteen: Part Two: Screams

**Day Thirteen: Screams**

**Part Two:**

**District Five:**

**Admyer's POV:**

"Are they ever going to leave?" I sighed as the moaning continued to float through the door.

I tapped my hammer against the wall in rhythm with their pounding. I created different beats in an attempt to distract myself from the situation I was in. I was locked in this room with no way of getting out. There was no way I could take out both of them in a fair fight. I had thought about moving the stool and hiding, but I had a sinking feeling these dolls weren't idiots. They would find me almost immediately and attack.

Were the Gamemakers really going to keep me trapped in this room? My food was running extremely low. There was no source of water in this room, which meant I would quickly die from dehydration. They couldn't just let it end like this?

As if they were reading my mind, the pounding halted momentarily. While one groan slowly faded out, the other escalated into rage. In the next few seconds it died down as well and all that was left in its place was silence. I perked my ears for the hint of any other sound. From what I could tell, there was no source of life nearby.

I slowly pushed myself up and began to walk towards the exit. I pressed my ear against it and listened closely. The stillness rang through my ears almost painfully. As I moved the stool from underneath the knob, I observed a small amount of liquid seeping from under the door. I'd call it blood, but I already knew it was being emitted from the mutts… Did muttations bleed actual blood?

I opened the door carefully. A large, slimy head thudded against my foot. I nudged it away and stooped down. For some reason, these dolls were now oozing a blood-like liquid. It was almost as if their human body parts were now _living_ again. I tapped its arm with my hammer lightly and felt it squish underneath.

It felt just like the fresh meat I used to cut in the shop… Not like the preserved arm of someone turned into a doll.

"Did you kill Winnifred?"

I jumped up with a small yelp. I was completely taken by surprise as I observed the small District Three girl leaning against a nearby column. Unlike the last time I saw her when she appeared almost bored; she now had a spark in her eyes. She seemed to be jittery with energy… Like she was getting off on some sort of morphling kick.

"No… I would never do that," I answered quickly as her casual threat from several days ago raced through my mind.

She stared at me as if she was looking into the very depths of my soul. I felt as if I was being prodded and violated by her scrutiny.

"I believe you," she stated, "How did she die?"

"I… The Hunger Games finally caught up to her. Everything that had happened since she entered the arena made her crack. She lost it," I whispered sadly.

"Shame," she sighed, "She was the only person in this arena whose intelligence rivaled my own. It was disheartening to see her go before some of the other tributes, albeit necessary in the scheme of things."

"I suppose," I replied as I tried to hide the disgust.

She was talking about Winnifred's death like it was a step in her plan that didn't go in the proper order.

"I took care of this," she gestured, "Now you owe me. Come, I could use your help."

She began to walk to my right as I asked, "How did you do it?"

She looked at me as if I was feeble-minded and spoke slowly, "I used this knife and inserted it into their bodies. This caused them to die."

She turned back around and made her way further into the ballroom. I stepped over the muttations and trailed behind her cautiously. I didn't want to help her, but at the same time I didn't want to disobey her.

She began to raffle through her bag and pulled out a spool of wire. She grabbed the end of it and held the spool out to me.

"Stand here, hold this, and do not move," she commanded as she pointed to a dark shadow hidden behind a pillar.

I moved to the place she indicated as she walked away with her end of the wire. As I held the spool, I admired the material the wire was made out of. It wasn't like the typical metal wire that was very rigid. It seemed to have the toughness of a cable but the flexibility of string. I already knew that if Winnifred were here she would have a field day with this. I could hear her in my head telling me all of the different ways this could help us, in and out of the arena.

I looked up and saw that the girl from District Three had opened the door and appeared to be tying the wire to the handle. She pulled out more slack so that wire drooped to the floor. As she followed the trail back to me, she pushed the wire tight against the wall. She then grabbed the spool from me and set it down on the ground.

"That should work," she smirked as her sight hovered over the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

"Glad I could help," I responded as I took a step back.

She looked back at me with an expression telling me that she had all but forgotten my very existence.

"Yes, I suppose you did. You may go."

I quirked my eyebrow and replied, "Go?"

"Do you not know the definition of that word? I believe it is very common in all twelve districts."

"Yes I know what it means," I groaned, "but why? Why are you just 'letting me go'?"

She gazed at me the way one would look at a child in pity when they asked a question they couldn't even begin to understand.

"It is because someone else will take your life soon enough. You are not worth my time or resources."

Her words stabbed my heart in shock. I didn't even know this girl and she was saying that I was so weak that I was going to die by someone else's hands? She couldn't even foresee me lasting the next couple of days?

I nodded, attempting to not look a gift horse in the mouth, as I began to back out of the room.

Right before I reached the exit, her tiny voice called out, "Oh Admyer?"

I spun around; surprised she even remembered my name when I couldn't even recollect hers.

"If you hear screaming, go in the opposite direction. Perhaps that can prolong your life slightly."

* * *

><p><strong>District Eight:<strong>

**Asita's POV:**

As I faded into consciousness, a noise crashed against my ears. I could hear something clinking against other objects. Things were falling and sliding. They made clamors as they clattered against the floor. It sounded as if someone was struggling and pushing. As if someone was moving… pieces of rubble…

I opened my eyes weakly. The first thing I saw was the open sky. For half a second, I thought I was on the ground in District Eight. Perhaps I was lying in one of the parks or on a bench. Then I remembered it was never this bright in District Eight. Everything was always so cloudy… So dim and colorless…

I looked to my right and saw Hawk kneeling by my side. He was furiously moving pieces of rubble. He threw them carelessly behind him and seemed to be tackling the smaller pieces first. I began to get up to approach him when I was pulled back to the ground. It felt as if someone had sapped the strength straight from my body. It was as if…

I looked forward and saw nothing but wreckage past my waist.

I let out a choked cry as I tried to kick my legs free.

"Asita," Hawk called out as he scurried closer to me, "I'm going to get you out of there. I'm going to find a way to… I'm going…"

I couldn't feel my legs. _I couldn't feel my legs._

I opened my mouth to reply but no sound came out. Instead of pounding harder, my heart was beating weakly and sporadically. The strength inside of me was crumbling swiftly as fear swept through me. My spirit was crushed into a million pieces as I realized I had nothing to fight.

I was dying.

I had no control over what would happen. I had no chance to fight and survive. I was completely powerless.

"If I can just get this off of you… I can just pull you out…" Hawk gasped as he pushed and pulled against a large piece of debris.

I laid back and breathed in deeply before screaming. I screamed as loud as I could. Hawk jumped back but I continued to scream because that was all I could do. The only power left in body was the ability to cry out and shriek in pure terror and grief.

Tears ran down my face as the panic and hopelessness settled in.

Suddenly, I stopped screaming and just cried out, "Oh God. Oh God no. _No_!"

"Asita… I…" Hawk tried as he just stared at me.

I stared at the sky as I tried to even think of what I could say to Hawk. All I could see was my siblings faces floating through my mind. Daisy, sweet Daisy... Thank God she would have no idea what was happening. She wouldn't be able to understand until later in life. Brock… He would be beaten down by this. I could just see his light being dimmed even further. Then Aaron… Aaron was so strong. He would have to take care of everyone. He would have the burden I was saddled with for years… Unless…

"Hawk, I can't feel my legs," I stated, knowing he had no idea what was going on.

"That's… That could be good? No pain, right?"

"After Raylin blew up the Town Square last year, many people were caught underneath the wreckage. Those with limbs trapped had fifteen minutes at most. If they weren't freed before that time, they were goners. Between the blood loss and the shock to the organs, they were as good as dead. I know… I helped some of the victims."

"What are you saying?" Hawk asked shakily even though he knew what the answer was.

"I don't know how long we've been knocked out, but it's certainly been longer than fifteen minutes."

I looked into Hawk's eyes and saw genuine sadness. He even looked sorry, as if this was his fault.

"I knew what I was doing," I stated, "Valhalla was going to kill us both with this trap. I knew that the only chance of both or one of us getting out alive was to piss her off. When she's overconfident, she underestimates and overlooks things. When she's angry, she just makes outright mistakes. I knew that and I used it against her."

"I don't… I don't know what to say," Hawk whispered as he slumped against the rubble.

"Smile. I outsmarted and outplayed the biggest strategist in the arena. Looks like I get the last laugh," I joked confidently.

"Why didn't she come back and finish us off? She obviously would have heard that there were no cannons."

"That's not her style, Hawk," I responded, "This is an experiment to her… Some sort of test or game. As long as her trap harms us in some way, then it's served its purpose. In her mind, all of us are going to die at one time or another until she wins. She doesn't feel the need to rush anything."

"We were supposed to get to the Final Two," Hawk cried out as a few tears slipped past his furiously blinking lids.

"Hawk, I need you to do something," I began as I looked to my left, "Grab my dagger."

Hawk shuffled past me and pulled my jeweled dagger out from underneath some wreckage. He handed it to me and I grasped the handle of it firmly.

"I never thought coming into this that I would find someone so similar to me," I smiled, "A kindred spirit, if you will. You understand what it means to fight for survival. You understand the importance of family and of life itself."

I shakily handed him the knife and forced myself to smile, "Now you need to show everyone who we are. You need to survive. Don't be the typical ally and attempt to 'avenge my death'. Do whatever it takes to win this thing. Show the world what people like us are made out of."

Hawk wiped more tears from his eyes and held the dagger like it was life itself, "I'm going to win this."

I motioned him closer.

As my lips met his ear I whispered, "I know you will. All that I ask is that, if you get out of here, do _something_ for my siblings. Find a way, any sort of way, to help them. Promise me that you'll do that if… _when _you get out of here."

We looked into each other's eyes as he swore, "I promise."

"Good. Now go."

"What?" he asked as his expression was filled with shock and dismay.

"I want you to leave," I mumbled, "I don't want you to sit here and watch me die. When you remember me, I want you to think back on our conversations and jokes… Not like this. I don't want this image in your head."

Hawk nodded and began to collect the remainder of our supplies. I noticed how he lingered, as if he truly didn't want to leave me here. I guess I would have felt the same if the roles were reversed. Leaving someone when you know you'll never see them again must be one of the hardest things a person can do…

As he picked up Apollo's sword I blurted, "Leave it."

He gave me a puzzled look as I lied, "In case the muttations comes. I may be stuck here but I'll be damned if I go down without a fight."

Hawk laughed lightly at my comment as he mumbled, "Same old Asita."

"I'd never change. Not in a million years," I smirked as he left the short sword in my hands. Before he stood up, he placed a small kiss on my forehead.

I found myself struck with a wave of emotions at such a simple gesture. For some reason, that act made this goodbye truly seem final. I gazed at him as he walked away past the ruble. I regretted my decision in asking him to leave and felt the panic rear its ugly head again. I couldn't stand the thought of this being _it_.

"Hawk!" I called out.

He turned around at the door and his misty gaze hovered over me.

"I'll see you in hell," I winked jokingly, "You know that's where all the raging parties happen."

He snickered one last time before holding his hand up in a half-hearted wave. I did the same and then he was gone.

Poof.

I waited until his footsteps were completely gone. Then I held the sword tightly in my hands. This was it. I could go out my own way right now. It would be only seconds of pain before I was gone. None of this 'bleeding out' crap… Not that I knew if I was even bleeding.

The thought of raking the blade across my flesh felt liberating and terrifying at the same time. For the first time in my life, I could just stop. I could stop worrying about others. I could stop fighting for things that everyone else was just given. I could breathe and let go forever.

I placed the blade at my side and shook my head.

"After all I've done, I'm not going out like that."

Suddenly, a spark lit a fuse in my brain. My entire life had been a struggle. I've struggled with poverty, prejudice, and responsibility. The only thing I ever had besides my looks was my way with words. I had always been able to tell stories and create emotion. I took this skill and nurtured it into manipulation and lying.

Perhaps I could use this gift one last time.

While the Capitol awaited my last breath, I talked. I started with telling some of my favorite childhood memories. I talked at length about my siblings and the times we spent together before our parent's deaths. I let the story unravel and delved into the darker, sadder things that occupied my life. I discussed my job and how people treated me. I kept telling my story until I was reaped. Once I was reaped, everyone knew the rest of the story.

Then I apologized. I apologized to Lyric for what I did to him. I apologized to Apollo and his family. I went down the list until I had apologized to Clinton for using him, even though he was equally using me. I ended my apologies with the final one. I apologized for none of this mattering. If I would have won, then everything I did would have been validated. It would have had a purpose in the bigger picture. Now that I was trapped under this wreckage it meant nothing.

Nothing was going to change even though it should. Every single year, _something_ should change. These sick games should change.

As I ended my story, I felt at peace. Even if something else exciting had been going on in the arena and no one had heard it, I had said it. I had said everything I had ever wanted to say. My words were out there, recorded on some sort of camera. Perhaps they could make a difference in someone's life. Maybe Daisy might see it someday and know how much I, as well as our parents, loved her. Maybe she can change the things that I can't.

As I slowly sank away, I couldn't help but grin.

As short as my life had been, it wasn't that bad. After all the hardships, I still had the memories I had made with my family. In these last few moments, I had them next to me… Smiling. My life had been happy and full of love.

I had won.

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

A cannon fire rang out and I jumped slightly. The other tributes were dropping like flies. Before I knew it, this torture was going to come to an end.

"I hope you're worth the trouble, Cami." I sighed as I stroked the dragon's head.

Yes, true to my word, I ended up naming the dragon Cami. It was cruel, vicious, and oddly sweet if it liked you. Just like the actual Cami, it liked nearly no one. So far it had killed five muttations today. They didn't attack us or anything. This mutt went out of its way to kill them. Anything with a pulse was as good as dead to this creature.

"Don't worry, we'll kill her. Not that you are worrying… I mean, I don't think you have the highest mental capacity."

The dragon just growled slightly and continued to munch on an arm. You would think that a mutt chewing human flesh would disturb me, but this flesh couldn't _actually_ be human. It had to be some sort of synthetic material just like this mutt wasn't _actually_ a dragon.

When I saw Cami wasn't dead yesterday, I was shocked. I still had no idea how she had escaped. It must have been a close call, which meant she was hurt in some way. I suppose I could think of it as rounds. I won round one and I was definitely going to succeed in round two. There wasn't going to be a round three.

"I wonder if they would let me keep you… Highly doubtful, but I know you would like District Ten. Lots of cows to chomp on. Actually, you're probably more of a 'sheep' dragon. Horses are off limits. I would cry if I saw you eating one of those animals."

The metallic dragon almost purred as I ran my hand against its hard scales. This beast seemed to be unstoppable. I had scavenged its body to find a weak spot. There didn't seem to be any. This armor was impenetrable. I wasn't even sure if it could _melt_ off. It felt too good to be true. It was like handing me the victory if no one could kill this thing.

"I suppose they really only need to kill me. As long as they can outrun you, why would they need to kill you?"

The arm cracked loudly as the dragon snapped it in two.

"Why couldn't you be a _talking_ dragon like the ones from past years?"

An idea popped into my head and I squealed, "Wait… maybe you are! You just don't know how yet!"

I jumped up and ran to the corner. I picked up a hand and walked back over to Cami. It stood up and gazed at the hand intensely.

I raised it up higher as I said, "Charlotte."

I pointed to myself as I repeated, "Charlotte."

The dragon cocked its head to the side as if it was saying "Yes, you do look tasty."

Perhaps that was too hard for it. I tapped my foot and tried to think of other easy words. I never had a younger sibling which meant I never got to see my parents try to teach a baby how to talk. Granted, this wasn't anything like a baby…

"Food," I blurted as I began to wave the hand around, "Food, food, food, food!"

The dragon hopped up and down slightly at the excitement in my voice. I giggled slightly as I noticed its tail was sweeping across the floor.

"Can you say 'food'?" I asked as held the hand out.

Instead of answering, it leapt forward. A scream erupted from my throat as it snatched the meat from my palm. I shot the creature a glare as it gulped down the morsel.

"Bad!" I hissed, "You're supposed to say something before you get a treat."

The dragon puffed out a small stream of smoke before it settled back on the floor. Now that I wasn't holding anything of interest it was happy to laze around until a new enemy came.

"Horses are a lot less stubborn than you," I huffed, "and _that's_ saying something."

It yawned and flashed its extremely sharp and white teeth. You would think since it was a baby it would be more… loving? Perhaps more 'child-like' in the sense of not giving me teenage attitude! Is this how my mother felt?

"Charlotte," I sighed as I placed my palm on my head, "You're trying to teach a dragon how to talk by feeding it in a hand. You're treating it like another person or a dog…"

Suddenly, I burst out into a fit of giggles. I could just see Adam's raised eyebrow at the sight of this. In fact, he's probably peeing himself from laughter wherever he is. The giggles continued as I realized the hilarity of this entire situation. Only I would treat this muttation like a pet.

"You've finally lost it," I cackled, "Good for you. It's a sign you're actually doing well in the Hunger Games."

The dragon looked at me and I could just imagine it thinking "Will this bitch ever shut up?"

This, of course, made me laugh even harder.

I found myself on the floor, several minutes later, laughing until my belly ached. I wiped the tears from my eyes and stopped my quivering belly. As I looked at the ceiling, I couldn't help but be glad that I could still laugh like that.

I had always been the person who loved to laugh and enjoy life. I was always joking around and making myself giggle. It was just a part of me… To be quirky, weird, and optimistic all at the same time. It was a part of me that wasn't going anywhere.

I was always going to be filled with hope no matter what happened.

"Hey, Cami!" I called, "Guess what?"

It raised its head as I continued, "You and I are getting out of here. We're going to live in a big house and I'll make sure you get plenty of food. I'll probably ask them to disable your fire breathing thingy, if that's ok. I'd rather keep our house intact."

I crawled over to it and lay my head against its back, "We're going to be ok. We're going to get out of here and live our lives."

I closed my eyes and decided to relax in the small bubble of calmness that I had incased my mind in.

For the first time in days, the shouting and screaming inside my head was silenced.

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

"I'm so tired," I grumbled as I slumped against the wall.

"What, fighting mutts tuckered you out?" Leith asked sarcastically, "Try doing it blind."

"You know, the more you joke about being blind the less funny it gets."

"Was it funny in the first place?"

I rolled my eyes and looked away. For someone who was supposedly blind, he could fight those mutts pretty damn well. I knew he was a Career, but it gave me shivers just thinking about what he could do in top condition. I suppose that is why he got one of the highest training scores. The Gamemakers knew he was a threat from the get go.

As time went by, I found myself trusting Leith less and less. One reason was how he treated me. Instead of an ally it was almost like a pack mule or a servant. I knew I owed this guy but I certainly didn't owe him that much. In fact, I was pretty sure he owed _me_ now.

Yet again, the thought of leaving him defenseless was unsettling. Sure, he could fight but how would he move around. I knew he had to die at some point, but why not wait for someone else to do it? He could be a good meat shield I suppose…

I snapped myself out of my own thoughts. I wanted to be a better person. I wanted to work on being kinder and less bitter… yet I had this tugging at the pit of my stomach. It was telling me that right now was _not _the time to work on self-improvement. I had the rest of my life to do that. It felt as though the hatred and anger served me a greater purpose than being a morally good person.

At the same time, I didn't think I could take it anymore. The thought of leaving myself open to that onslaught of feelings again was almost painful. I was at such peace now… I didn't want to do anything to disturb it.

Suddenly the anthem played and the wall across from me lit up. I watched as a single face grazed across it. I found myself surprised and not surprised at the same time. Asita was one of the most cunning people I had seen. Anyone with no visible skills that could worm their way into the Careers had to be extremely clever. For her to make it this far… well that was where I wasn't surprised. She had to die at some point and almost all of the Careers were dead…

"Who was it?" Leith asked.

"Asita," I commented.

"Cheers to that," he mumbled as he took a swig of water.

"What do you mean?"

"That girl," he replied, "was vicious. She was willing to do anything to get back home to her family. That included banging people as well as stabbing them. Point is she always had a trick up her sleeve. Competition wise, I'm glad to be rid of her."

"Ok," I murmured as I watched her smile fade away.

I was going to have to do that. Sooner or later, someone's face was going to be on display because of me. I mean, I did cut off Alexei's hand… but Ruby brutally murdered him. Even with a hand he wouldn't have been able to take her. His death wasn't my fault, but someone's was going to have to be. If I wanted to leave here, I was going to have to be a killer. If I had to be a killer, I had to have anger to fuel me.

I felt my eyes begin to tingle and I rubbed them furiously. I felt torn between two very different things. I had to choose between the person I wanted to be and the person I had to be. The terrifying thing was that if I chose the latter, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to come back from it.

I didn't want to be stuck like that forever.

Right as a tear began to slide down my face, the room suddenly began to brighten. I screamed in surprise and I heard Leith yell a curse. I shielded my eyes and I felt as if I was blind myself. After a few seconds, the light diminished rapidly and my eyes readjusted.

"What the hell was that!" Leith shouted.

I looked around and spotted a metal cylinder in the middle of the room. I jumped up and began to walk towards it.

"A sponsor gift? This late in the games?" I commented to myself.

"Who is it for?" Leith asked.

I stooped down and saw the number twelve sealed across it.

"Me."

I grasped the object and opened it. I reached inside and felt something cold. As I pulled it out and saw what it was, I froze.

It was a single throwing knife.

"What is it?"

I shakily set it down and rolled the cylinder across the room.

"Ruth?"

"Just a scrap of food," I lied as I tossed a small piece of bread from my knapsack at him.

He caught it and sighed, "Really? They might as well have not sent anything. You want it?"

"Take it."

I looked to my right and gazed at the weapon. Ophelia knew what happened to my sister. She knew what this weapon meant to me. This symbolized everything I despised. I reminded me of pain, anger, and despair. It reminded me of so many bad things and she had sent it to me with whatever sponsor money she could gather.

I knew what she was telling me. I could hear her screaming in my head. She was screaming that I needed to grasp my fury and pain. She was telling me to use it to kill, survive, and win.

Just like an unanswered question, I hid the knife out of sight. I tucked it in my backpack and returned to my corner. No matter what Ophelia was telling me, I didn't know if I could do it. I couldn't go back to those feelings and find this peace again. If I did what she was telling me, I was destroying this harmony I had found… But if I didn't… How was I going to survive? How was I going to kill?

How was I going to live the rest of my life with the screams of the dead rattling my brain?

* * *

><p><strong>Can I just immediately say, what the hell did I just do? I kill off Asita (more in eulogies) and then go to Charlotte, fully intent on doing a serious scene. Then I just have her play with her dragon xD This happens EVERY FLIPPING TIME I try to write Charlotte. She just… That's just who she is. She isn't serious, she's fun loving. She loves to laugh and have a good time. No matter what I do, I can never change that I suppose :P<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Eulogies!<strong>

**Asita- This was the hardest thing I've had to decide on. It wasn't the hardest death to write, but the decision itself almost killed me. People have commented on Asita in the past as either their favorite or their hated… But one thing everyone agreed on was that she was the most 3 dimensional character in this story. This was true. Asita, in all honesty, was one of my favorite tributes that I had ever written and breathed life into. She is one of the characters that I can honestly say is like a real person to me. For the sake of the story, I killed her off. For the sake of my mind, she will always live on and will be one of my greatest achievements character-wise.**

* * *

><p><strong>Now that the heartfelt eulogy is done, I want to thank each and every one of you readersreviewers. After my last gushy author's note, the reviewed doubled (which to me felt like a million and a half). Hearing your feedback, your support for my writing, and your concern in general meant more to me then you will ever know. I'm so happy to hear from all of you and to know that you're still here and wanting to join me on the journey through the rest of this story and into the next one! Thank you all for the love and support, it means so much **

**On a totally related and unrelated note at the same time, we reached 1,000 reviews xD **

**Oh, one more thing. I got several PMs asking if/why I took down some stories. Usually, I am all about leaving every story I publish (finished, unfinished, one-shot, hiatus) because it shows a journey. It's like the travel map of my growth as a writer. **

**However, I did end up taking two stories down. One was my "Madge Hunger Games" where she was reaped instead of Katniss. The reason I took it down was simple. It was horribly written, not very long, and I was never going to return to it. The second one I took down was the Dance of Death, an original Hunger Games story I was writing. The reasoning I took this down boils down to this. When I was writing it, I was going through some stuff. Hence, I incorporated some real life people/experiences into it. I decided that, if I ever do revisit and finish it, I want to rework it. Change some characters, names, and events. Granted, I might never revisit it, but who knows? **

**Anyways, another long author's note. Long story short, you guys are awesome and I will see you guys next time for a very exciting chapter **

**Europa**


	51. Day Fourteen: Part One: Blood

**Day Fourteen: Blood**

**Part One:**

**District One:**

**Cami's POV:**

_That isn't right either._

I chucked away another piece of wood and began to fiddle with a new plank. I scraped my knife down the side and began to whittle away at the material.

_Why did that whore have to die right when I actually needed her?_

This was my tenth attempt at making a proper splint. I had spent hours on each one trying to make it fit my leg properly, but each time I screwed something essential up. Asita was the one who knew all about first aid. I had only seen a picture of a splint and a couple tributes from previous games use one. Of course, they had access to better materials besides large wooden _planks _that were the size of my entire leg!

On the bright side, my sprained ankle was healing. The difference a day of inactivity made was enormous, but I knew I wasn't going to be given many of those. If I was going to be able to fight when it was necessary to survive, I needed to make this.

"It… looked so _simple_," I mumbled to myself as I frustratingly chipped away at the lumber.

I continued to angrily carve into the timber as my mind wandered. Why hadn't my father ever deemed it vital to explain to me how to make a splint? For someone who was so insistent on versatility in combat being the _key_ to winning the Hunger Games; he sure wasn't nagging me to be versatile in other areas! His ego was probably too inflated to even consider the idea that his precious prodigy would ever be physically hurt.

What an idiot.

Sadly, I can't say that I was much smarter. It's not like I ever suggested "Hey dad, let's go over the basics of vegetation" or "You know what would be a fun thing to learn… the miracle of modern medicine!"

No, with us it was always fight, brawl, and spar. All he ever imagined was me going into the arena and slaughtering the tributes to kingdom come! While all I ever thought about was a less direct approach but, ultimately, doing the same when the time came.

"We never thought I would be sitting here in pain while the other tributes continue to carve their path to victory!" I growled frustratingly as I slammed the object down onto the ground next to me.

I could just picture my family's faces as they watched me. My dad was probably so disappointed in me. It was almost as if I could see him shaking his head and smashing his fist into the table. My older brother, Kyle, was probably nervously watching. Maybe he was washing dishes or working out in the garden… Anything to keep his mind away from what was going on. Then there was Brianna. Her sniveling nose and teary eyes popped into my mind. We had always hated each other, but she was _such_ a drama queen. Even though we couldn't stand the thought of each other, she totally _would_ be a huge cry baby about this and make a scene just because I was her sister.

As the disgust filtered itself in my mind, I stopped myself for a second. Why was I condemning such a normal action? Normally, families were _supposed_ to be upset and worried when their sibling or child was stuck in this game. Why was her reaction so vile to me and my father's so understandable? Perhaps it was because I could understand it better.

When Brianna's name was called out before I volunteered several weeks ago, I snickered. I cherished the expression on her face and even contemplated waiting another year to volunteer. I thought about what _if_ Miss Princess was trapped in here, but I didn't think about how it would affect me. Would I have really been rolling my eyes and giggling at her pain? Would I have realized she was my sister and would seeing her in pain hurt me as well?

I suppose I didn't know and I wouldn't ever be able to find out. All I knew was that, even though I despised her, she was still my sister. She was blood and I didn't want to see her dead… Just out of my life.

Her reaction suddenly made sense while I began to question my father's. Why wouldn't he be worried about me? Why would he just stand by and be angry that I wasn't performing up to par?

_Because he doesn't view you as a daughter._

The shock of the answer jerked at my spine and I found myself gasping aloud. It was completely true. After my mother died, he was so overcome with grief he put all his focus on me. My brother was too old to be molded and he despised my sister. He trained me to not only fight but to feel and act exactly like him.

He viewed me as an extension of himself, not as a daughter or a person. If I failed, it was as if he had failed just like he failed my mother. If I died, he wouldn't be saddened to lose me. He would be furious at me for not winning and bringing glory home.

I felt a sob choke out of my throat at the realization that the only person I had ever loved didn't feel the same. The grief permeated my pores like a fine perfume and lingered thickly. In my mind, I could see my father's expression darken even more at the sight of me crying. I could hear a hole being punched into a wall as he stormed out of the house. Brianna would flinch and Kyle would shrug it off. They had realized a long time ago that father had never loved them.

It took me until near death to even ponder that question.

For the first time, my siblings were much stronger than I could be.

"No," I whispered as I picked up the wooden plank again, "I'm not giving up. I'm getting out of here for _me_. No one else! This victory is for me and me alone!"

I chiseled away at the wood as I fought through the tears. I mattered… I was more than a tool or Career. I was a human being who could go on to do… _things_. I didn't know what things, but that didn't matter. All I needed to know was that I had a future to start. A future that could involve birthdays, weddings, and parties. A future filled with the happiness and joy I had never known.

All I had to do was be the last one standing.

Suddenly, an echoed scream bounced into the room. It was shrill and high. It sounded as if someone was being gutted and strewn throughout the arena. As it continued, I began to chip away slightly faster at the soon-to-be splint. That wasn't going to be me. I wasn't going to die. My blood wasn't going to run freely across the ground.

I was going to fight.

* * *

><p><strong>District Three:<strong>

**Valhalla's POV:**

I trailed my blood into the ballroom as I let my last shriek die out. I smeared it across the large doors as I closed them. I continued to lead the trail to the powder room before leaving one last smudge across that entrance as well. I left the door slightly ajar as I wrapped the open wound on my arm. I hissed at the pain as I applied as much pressure as I could take to stop the bleeding.

Someone would be here soon… No one could resist such an easy prey.

I slipped farther back in the room and slid down a column. I held the spool of wire as I crouched in the shadows and waited.

The anticipation sent jitters through me, and I could feel my whole body shaking. After I had seen Asita's face on the death toll, I couldn't get the glee to leave me. Just the thought of Hawk's _oh so sad_ face as he gazed down on a dying Asita was tantalizing. The pleasure it gave me to know I could wreak havoc on someone's emotions so thoroughly through death created a strange craving for more.

I wanted to be the one who was the cause of death for every single tribute left alive. I wanted all of them to know that they died because I wanted them to. Even Admyer would know. When he died, he would look back and know that I could have easily ended his life earlier. I just chose for him to leave this planet in a different way. At the end of the day, I was the mastermind of these games. I wanted to be the one in control. I wanted to torture every last one of them.

I could not help but chuckle slightly as I heard two sets of footsteps approaching. This was all too easy. It was as if blood said to them "Weakness! Come kill me1 I'm dying! Just follow the trail!"

The door opened and I heard a voice say, "No, it has to be the girl from District Ten. Only she would shriek like that. Cami and Valhalla both wouldn't do anything to lead us right to them."

"Whatever you say, Ruth," Leith sighed, "I'm just saying we've heard that girl scream before. It wasn't nearly that high."

"Did we hear her scream when she was, I don't know, being torn apart!" Ruth snapped back, "God, look at this."

"I can't."

"It's an expression. I'm still _very_ aware that you physically can't!"

I peered around the corner and observed as Ruth followed the traces of blood. Leith walked towards the large window as he wandered near the center of the room. He seemed to be making a sweep of the area, which meant he still had some sense of sight.

It was to be expected. My most dangerous and acidic chemicals had been used on Oceana. This left me with only my combustible materials and, as of yesterday, I had used almost all of the explosive extracts. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, but most of them did not involve chemicals. I was just going to have to rely on wit and basic traps like the many that came before me.

"It leads in here," Ruth called out as she began to enter the room.

I waited with bated breath as she stepped further into the room. After several seconds, I stood up and yanked the spool. The door slammed shut and I swiftly began to wrap it around the column. I could hear her yells of indignation and feel her tugging at the door through the wire. I managed to hold on with the leverage of the column.

"Ruth?" Leith called out.

With one final loop, I pulled out a knife. I cut the wire and tied it firmly to the column. Before I moved, I watched the door. Ruth continued to pull and bang against it, but it barely budged. She wasn't getting out of my trap anytime soon.

Granted, no one ever did.

Without a second thought, I banished her from my mind. I set my sights on Leith and smiled. This was going to be fun… A memory to treasure.

"She will not be interrupting us, Leith," I called out as I stepped away from the pillar.

His head snapped towards my voice, and he squinted his eyes furiously. I waved my entire arm in the light streaming in from the window before I hopped back in the shadows.

"I knew it was you," he growled.

He raised his spear and continued to look in the direction I had been. I glided around the room as he approached the column.

"Not over there," I giggled as he spun around.

He slowly began to back away towards the window.

"I never thought I would get the chance to kill a blind person. It is very intriguing to slay someone missing a very vital sense."

"You're not going to get that chance."

"Oh, am I not?" I asked as I continued to move around the room, "Should we take a look at my record? I convinced one tribute he should not even _try_ because he had no chance. I poisoned Jordana while effectively ending the Career alliance. I caused Apollo to go practically insane for revenge. I made a trap that caused Asita to die a rather long and slow death while her ally watched. Oh… Did I forget to mention I damaged your vision and dissolved Oceana's expression from her very own skull?"

Leith growled as he chucked his spear in my general direction blindly.

I walked away from it easily and watched as he pulled it back with the chain attached to end.

"I think I am going to kill you quite slowly. Maybe not physically, but I think not _knowing_ when I will strike will seem long enough. Tormenting you will be quite the amusement. Then, once you're dead, I'm going to dissect Ruth. I can knock her unconscious without having to even enter the room."

He chucked his spear again, this time slightly closer. I laughed as it clanged against the ground. I was unstoppable… Untouchable.

I was the orchid mantis and they were just a colony of ants.

"I cannot wait to see you bleed."

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Leith's POV:**

Valhalla's laugh rang throughout the room. I would occasionally see an arm or leg slip into the sunlight… Or, at least, the shape of one. The way her voice echoed throughout the room made it extremely hard to tell where she was. I felt as if she was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

She had me cornered.

Anxiety began to settle as I realized I was alone for the first time since I lost my sight. Ruth wasn't here to guide me or help me through this. She wasn't here to tell me where to go or what to do. I only had myself.

I tried to quell the panic as I tried to be rational. As long as Valhalla thought I was suffering she would keep me alive. If she felt that I was trapped she was going to take her sweet time in killing me. I strained to hear if Ruth was struggling. The soft echo of footsteps padded lightly across the ground, but no yelling or banging. I didn't know if Valhalla had already knocked her unconscious during the time she had been silent or if Ruth was looking for another way out.

Whichever it was, I couldn't prolong the fight in hopes that she would join me. This was my fight and mine alone.

I walked more towards the center of the room and tried to peer into the depths of the shadows. It was like I was trying to find a small fish in the dark abyss that you would find in the deeper parts of the ocean. I suddenly saw a small movement and threw my spear. It flew into the darkness and thudded against the ground. I dragged it back and continued to look around.

"Leith!" a voice screamed.

I tensed, recognizing Ruth's voice startling close. I spun around and saw nothing. However, I felt pain sear my side as something sharp was dug into it. I yelled in agony as I clutched it, and a small shadow scurried back into the blackness.

"Ruth?" I called out.

"Watch out!"

I spun around in a full circle, but saw nothing again. A high pitched cackle sprang through the air.

"I knew you were feeble minded, but are you really that slow?" Valhalla asked in a condescending tone.

I realized with a sinking feeling that Ruth hadn't escaped. Valhalla was just mimicking her voice... Almost perfectly.

"Don't worry, Leith," another voiced spoke demurely.

I tensed at the sound of a tone that sounded frighteningly similar to Oceana.

"I wasn't able to see minutes before my death and I turned out fine… Right?"

Another cackle vibrated through the air at the end of the statement. However, something about her sentence made me think. I wasn't able to _see_, which was what I was still relying on. If I wanted to win this battle, I couldn't be attempting to notice faint shadows and hope to hit her. I had to use what I still had.

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and tried to focus solely on listening. I gripped my spear tightly as the sound of silence unnerved me further. Every fiber of my body was telling me to open my eyes and look around. It was telling me that what I was doing was going to kill me.

Suddenly, a soft slap against the floor met my ears. I turned towards it and heard a quiet mishmash of machinery. Before I could ready my spear, I heard a slightly louder buzz. A small whirl of electricity sparked into the air and I jumped back.

I continued to hop around as more sparks cracked through the air.

"Dance for me Leith," Valhalla giggled in glee, "Dance!"

My side began to ache and this time a small spark hit my foot. I could feel a slight jolt shoot up my leg but nothing more. She was still just toying with me. I still had time.

As I danced around the minor bolts of electricity, I tried to listen for the source. She was moving around the room, possibly now darting through the light. She was getting closer and closer. She was lowering her defenses drastically, believing me to be inept. All of her focus was on what I was doing and feeling… Not on what I may be thinking and observing.

The electricity stopped as I heard her say, "You look so calm. Are you coming to terms with your imminent death?"

I heaved my spear at where I was sure she was. It connected with a pillar, but I heard her jump back slightly.

"We cannot have that… Can we?"

She suddenly was dead silent again, and I felt the terror sink in. I forced myself to my knees and listened carefully. Not a sound could be heard except for the sickening silence. My heart's pace quickened. Suddenly, I heard a small scuffle rapidly approach, and I opened my eyes. I brought my arm back and rammed my fist into something solid. Valhalla went stumbling back but she drove her knife straight through my forearm.

I howled in agony as I dove towards her. She shuffled back, but I managed to grab her leg. I pulled her towards me desperately as she wriggled. I flung her small body to my left and tried to situate myself on top of her. As she slid in front of me, I felt her other foot ram straight into my jaw. The pain was excruciating and I fell to my side as the throbbing practically halted all thoughts.

"Commendable try," she panted, "but I win. I always win."

I listened as she backed up, and I heard the loud buzzing of building electricity. I frantically grabbed my spear and hurled it. Right as it left my hands, an arch of lightening hit me and I was sent flying backwards. As I hit the ground, I heard a light gasp and something else thumped against the ground.

Tingling and small pricks raced through my entire body. I forced myself onto my knees and felt my legs twitch spastically underneath me. I crawled forward until I felt my chain. I pulled on it and felt it yank on something solid. A small shriek met my ears and I smiled as I crawled forward excitedly.

I had snared her.

As I made my way towards her, I couldn't help but cheer inwardly. Not only was I about to murder Oceana's killer, but I had managed to win. I had proven that I could still be the victor of the 226th Hunger Games. I didn't need my sight. I didn't need _Ruth_. All I needed was _me_.

I still had a chance.

As I found her small foot with my hand, I discovered that I couldn't move at all anymore. Fire blossomed from my chest and erupted through my entire body. I managed to raise my shaky hand to my chest and felt something warm and sticky. I could feel the blood cascading down my arm in rivers. I wheezed as I learned that I couldn't breathe. The tip of something sharp met my searching fingers.

I felt someone behind me grab my shoulder as I began to slip to the ground.

"I'm sorry. You were just too much of a threat."

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

Leith slipped to the floor and a cannon shot was fired. It continued to ring in my ears long after the sound had faded. I used my foot to push him to the ground and pulled the sword from the trunk of his body. Blood began to travel outwardly from his corpse vigorously and I had to push down the vomit that was rising in my throat.

I had killed someone. I was a killer.

"Brava," Valhalla clapped.

I looked up to see that Valhalla had crawled away from where she had previously been. She was now slouched against a pillar and was looking at me smugly. Leith's spear was still lodged in her calf.

"You not only backstabbed your ally, but you backstabbed me as well."

She yelped as she pulled something out and slid it across the floor. The bloody throwing knife hit my foot and I unsteadily reached for it. I wiped the blood off on Leith's back and held it firmly.

"How does it feel? To be a murderer?" Valhalla taunted.

When I didn't respond she smirked, "Good, right? That _is_ why you prepared for this… To kill people."

I tried to open my mouth to argue, but I couldn't. That was why I had worked so hard. The reason I spent so many hours on teaching myself hand-to-hand combat wasn't to protect myself. It was to come in here and kill Careers… It was to do exactly what I had just done.

"Answer me this, how did you escape?"

"You aren't as smart as you think," I whispered as I stepped away from Leith's corpse, "You tied the wire to the doorknob, but it ran across the entire door. When I was able to open the door slightly, it pulled the wire tightly against the entry. I managed to slip this knife in between the door and the frame. I eventually was able to cut the wire. Then, I snuck up behind you and stabbed you in the back with it right after Leith speared you."

"Interesting… I did not even think about that…"

"One mistake and you die, right?" I replied with little expression.

"I do _not_ make mistakes," Valhalla hissed.

"Oh really," I laughed without humor, "You mean like how you messed around instead of running Leith through quickly and then dealing with me. In this case, I'd call that a mistake."

"It was a misjudgment."

"Call it whatever you like," I mumbled as I pressed my hand to my head.

When I had raced out of that room and saw Leith throw that spear… I knew what I had to do. I knew that every single tribute left, injured or not, was a threat. I had no choice now but to kill. I had to dig deep and play the games the way they were supposed to be played.

Leith had every intention of killing Valhalla. He was willing to kill any tribute he came across without batting an eyelash. He was a Career.

"Are you attempting to convince yourself that you were right in killing him? Perhaps that there was some morally grey area that you can place it in? At the end of the day, you are a murderer just like me. Never forget that, Ruth."

Her sharp words dug into me and I looked at her in fury. She had _no_ right to preach to me. As the anger welled inside of me, I gripped it frantically. I held the feeling in place and refused to let it leave. I rode the emotion and forced it to spread to the ends of every corner of my body.

"You're going to die," I growled, "You do realize that, don't you?"

"I do not fear death," Valhalla stated, "I am above that."

"That's right," I sneered, "The almighty Valhalla who doesn't care about anyone or anything. The sociopath who feels no emotions whatsoever."

"You forgot about brilliant mastermind," she smirked.

"No, what I forgot was a girl who brings nothing but misery wherever she goes."

"That is appropriate and notable, I suppose."

"For someone who claims to be _so_ intelligent, you seem to be fairly unobservant. Would you like to hear why?" I barked as I moved closer.

"Do tell," she replied in a tone that said she couldn't care less if I did or didn't.

"I listened as you rambled on and on about all of your 'conquests'. It formed a pattern: Devon and me… Leith and Oceana… Apollo and Jordana…. Asita and her allu," I listed as I paced around the room.

"What pattern is that? That everyone I kill is a buffoon?" she asked as she began to remove the spear slowly from her leg.

"Every single one of your targets was happy," I jabbed, "They had someone they cared for and were _loved_. You just couldn't stand it."

Valhalla's expression darkened considerably as she scowled at me.

I continued, "Every time you saw one of us laugh with each other it was like a stab in your heart. Each time we smiled it reminded you of just how alone you were. It was like a blatant slap in the face saying that no one could ever understand or love a sociopath like you."

"Shut your mouth," Valhalla growled.

The fury began to feel satisfied as I saw the tinge of hurt cleverly hidden inside of her expression.

"What? You can't take what you dish out? Face it, the reason you broke Devon was because you were broken. You poisoned Jordana because you _are_ poison! You drove Apollo mad because you're insane! You killed Asita because you are just as dead inside!"

"I told you to stop!" Valhalla screeched.

I noticed her arm move back behind her and I looked up. Right as the chandelier began to swing, I rolled forward. The chandelier crashed to the ground where I had been previously standing. I looked up and saw Valhalla staring daggers into my soul. I used her fury to escalate my own rage as I tossed my sword to the side. As she began to charge her glove, I gripped my throwing knife and pounced on top of her. I smashed her hand into ground with my knee and felt something crack underneath it. She cried out in anguish as she tried to flail away from me.

I held her to the pillar by her neck as I shouted, "I won't stop! You're a disease, Valhalla. You're just as evil as Lucian! All you want to see is others suffer because you do! You believe that because you can't love that no one should be able to! You feed off of others pain!"

She struggled and I softened my grip. Even though she claimed to not be scared, I could see the terror in her eyes. She had no more schemes. She wasn't in control anymore. Before my wrath could dissipate, I moved my hand to the top of her head.

"This tongue has hurt and destroyed so many people," I snarled, "Maybe I should cut it out."

My heart began to beat faster once I realized what I was about to do. I rammed my knee into her stomach and forced her jaw open. She whipped her head back and forth and began to screech. I kneed her in the chest and watched as the breath exited her tiny frame. I reached in and firmly grasped her tongue. Without any hesitation, I let the hatred for this girl who had broken my best friend take over my arm. I wrenched my knife into her mouth. I sliced off a large piece of her tongue and witnessed it wriggle out of her mouth. I watched as it fell to the ground and kept my eyes away from her face.

"Drown in your blood, bitch," I spat.

A guttural gargle that no human should ever make or hear responded to me. I looked farther away as blood began to splat against the floor and pushed myself off of her. I tried to process what I had just done as Valhalla continued to make that horrible bubbling noise. This time the bile could not be contained and I vomited on the floor.

"She deserved it," I whispered as I wiped my mouth, "If anyone deserved this death, it was her. She confessed what she had done from her own mouth and you heard her."

I collected my sword from the ground, as well as Leith's spear and backpack. I gazed quickly around the room and spotted a small knapsack by the spool of wire. I walked over to it and picked both up. As I began to leave, I remembered Valhalla's glove that conducted electricity.

I made my way towards her and avoided looking at her face. Blood was now running down her body and her clothes were stained in it. I fiddled frenziedly with the piece of technology until I found some sort of button near the cuff. The glove retracted and became a small bracelet. I removed it from her wrist hysterically and bolted towards the exit. Once I reached it, I stood there. I was unable to stop listening to her death and open the door. I heard it slowly become quieter and quieter until almost no noise was audible.

Suddenly, another cannon fire rang out and I knew it was over.

As I opened the door and left the room, I forced myself to hold onto the old me. I cocooned myself in my hatred and bitterness. I had murdered two people in a matter of minutes.

I had painted the floor red with their blood.

* * *

><p>… <strong>Yes, I did just kill two tributes in one chapter. Yes, I did have a very twisted and sudden ending for it. Yes, I am prepared for everyone to be shocked and mourn.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Eulogies.<strong>

**Leith: You were one of the strongest and biggest threats in these games. You had so much potential and drive. You truly showed how determined and scary you were in this last fight. I'll miss the atmosphere you brought to this story, even if no one else does.**

**Valhalla: This was a tough one. You started off as a sociopathic villain with no remorse and no feelings. You were supposed to be this huge villain that everyone hated and just cause mayhem. Then you quickly became this real, human villain. You were still awful, but everyone, including me, understood why. We could relate to you as well as enjoy your tactics. You were so morally grey, yet still a villain and a truly loved tribute. You will be greatly missed and remembered as another one of my best creations.**

* * *

><p><strong>All I can say is that things really picked up this chapter. We are down to five tributes. I know things are catapulting forward, but I can promise you that every crescendo and decrescendo that happens in this story has a purpose. Things might slow down in the next few chapters or they could escalate even further. Part of the beauty is in the tension of not knowing. <strong>

**Please drop a review, if you can, as I know that this chapter left everyone (including me) with a lot to process. Two crucial characters dying in back to back chapters, as well as another prominent character, is a lot to download and compute. **

**See you later,**

**Europa**


	52. Day Fourteen: Part Two: Sanity

**Day Fourteen: Sanity**

**Part Two:**

**District One:**

**Cami's POV:**

A second cannon fire met my ears and I found myself jumping in surprise as I scurried down the hallway. After the screams had died out, I fully expected the first cannon. It took much longer than I anticipated, but it finally came. However, this second one was unnerving. Even I didn't like the idea that the tributes were dying this quickly. It meant that the end was coming and I wasn't sure I was prepared for it.

A deep gasp met my ears and I shuffled underneath a nearby end table. I maneuvered my splinted leg under me and ignored the spike of pain. I gripped my sword steadily and huddled in the shadows. Every encounter I could avoid would be a blessing for my ankle. I wasn't up for a fight right now.

God, I never thought I would be the one to think that.

As the footsteps rapidly approached, I tried to push myself farther into the recesses of the dank wall. It was as if I was willing myself to become the mold that was pressed against my face. It squelched under the pressure and my stomach began to flip unsteadily.

Suddenly, the footsteps were practically on top of me. I observed the legs that came into my view. They were cut, bruised, and covered in blood. I watched as they stumbled into the table. Everything began to shake and I cursed internally. The muttation leaned heavily against the table and began to pant even harder. For half a second, I thought I could make out a small sob. Then it pushed off of the end table and it rattled above me. I gripped the legs on either side of me to keep it from toppling over.

As the figure shuffled away, I began to pull myself out from underneath the table. A caught a flash of caramel hair turn the corner before the mutt was gone. I pulled myself to my feet and now noticed the mutt had left a small blood trail. I stooped back to the ground and lightly touched it.

Fresh blood.

So far, the mutt's had spewed out a thick, almost slimy blood. It reminded me of the sludge I had seen in some alleys or fresh tar being spread on the roads of District One. This wasn't the same. It was dark, sticky, and slippery in texture. This was real.

I stood up and began to follow it. For some reason, I had to see. I knew that wherever this was taking me that there were no survivors. It wasn't leading me to a tribute. It was taking me to a grave.

As I followed the trail, it began to thicken. The blood began to be more consistent and just _more _in general. Soon, I began to notice it on the walls. The mutt must have staggered into the walls as it left the scene. As I neared the main hall, a question popped into my mind.

How did I know that it was a mutt?

I found myself standing next to a grand staircase as I turned the corner. This time, there were two different trails of blood. One was older and dryer. It led into the room and was streaked across the door. Then a newer, fresher one led back out and traveled in between my legs.

I pushed the door open and cautiously stepped into the room. This place appeared to be a ballroom of some kind. It reminded me of a grand hall back in District One where dances were sometimes held. I was never invited to attend one, of course, but there were some nights I could see the beauty through the large windows. People would be dressed in beautiful gowns and suits. Lights would dance off of the floor and everything looked almost ethereal. It was the glamour that I never got to experience.

Another thing I was jealous and hateful of.

As I stepped further in, I spotted the origin of the copious amount of blood. A crimson puddle was pooled near a column. I could barely make out where the corpse had been. I followed the tendrils of blood and watched as if flowed to the center of the room where it connected with another pool. In this puddle of red I could easily see where the body had been. It was large, obviously a male's.

So both tributes died in here.

As I stepped over the blood, I couldn't help but think if this was what I really wanted. Every year I watched as tributes went through this. I watched them fight, scream, and die in horrible ways. Suddenly, everything was becoming so real. Two people had died here. Two people had bled out and stopped breathing. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have died in these gruesome ways… And I was a part of it. I had murdered someone in the same ghastly fashion under the reasoning that this was a game.

But _this_, right here, wasn't a game. This was a massacre.

"You're the one who ruined my tea party."

I spun around and looked up towards the source of the voice. Standing on top of a small balcony was a beautiful woman. Her skin was alabaster pale and her hair looked like fire itself. She was young, probably my age, and was dressed in a gorgeous gown. Standing on either side of her were two people.

Alexie and the female runt from District Five.

"It's been many years. I had always wondered where all of you had wandered off to."

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but suddenly my voice was gone. This obviously was just an illusion. I was only asleep for one day. The Gamemakers obviously replaced the little girl with a different mutt made to look like her. This was all just a trick… This was all just part of the game…

Flashes of crimson appeared wherever I looked. Even this girl's hair was the color of crimson; the color of blood.

"Don't cry. It's not becoming of you."

My hand shot towards my face and I felt the wetness of tears. I erased them from existence before I stumbled backwards. All three of them were staring right at me. All of their eyes were hollow. They were dead… Everyone was dead…

"It's a shame about the others," she gestured to the ground around me, "Still, I'm glad that all of you are back. It's been so lonely since I had to put Father away. Were you around when that happened…? I can't remember."

She placed her palm to her forehead and a pained look crossed her face. Suddenly, blood began to spiral upwards. I yelped in surprise as it began to float around me. I felt panic begin to rise in me as red filled my entire vision. I felt as if the blood was entering my lungs and suffocating me. Then, as quickly as it started, the blood fell to the floor.

"He tried to hurt me," she whispered, "He tried to turn me into one of his dolls… Keep me perfect forever. I couldn't have that, now could I?"

I looked at my body and saw that I was now coated in droplets of blood. It was drying against my skin and beginning to crackle. I began to scrape away at it frantically.

"You bore me," Ruby sighed. Without another glance, she spun around. She marched out of the room and her two dolls followed behind her obediently.

As I fell to the floor and continued to scrape away at the blood, I chanted to myself a mantra.

_This is just a game… This is just a game… This is just a game…_

Forcing myself to believe this was the only way I could keep my sanity.

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

"What is that smell?" I asked as I tromped down the hallway.

Cami followed close behind me, practically frothing at the mouth. The aroma was a mixture of something sickeningly sweet and rot. It smelled horrible, yet intoxicating at the same time. The smell had wafted all the way down to the other end of the house. When Cami had first smelled it, she practically leapt out the door. It took quite a long time to calm her down enough so that she would follow me instead of charging towards it.

I already knew this was a bad idea. I could feel that as I was marching towards my potential death. But what else could I do? Just let Cami go and hope for the best? No, my mutt was my only edge on the other tributes. Without it, I wasn't going to make it through these games alive.

Finally, we found the source of the scent. Cami began to rake her claws against the door and I looked at it uneasily. They were two, large doors.

"How ominous can we get?" I muttered as I pushed against it.

Suddenly, Cami bolted in. I slipped through the door and stopped dead in my tracks.

We were in some sort of cathedral. Columns and archways filled the room, as well as multi-colored light drifting in from the stain glass windows. However, what made me stop so suddenly was the large table that ran down the large span of the room. It was laden with food. I could see stew, meat pies, and sandwiches.

I could also see trays laden with cooked body parts.

Arms casually roasted and broiled. Fingers sliced and used as garnish. Several other things that didn't look human, although I knew they were. Even the stews and meat pies were probably ridden with different organs and tid bits of people. The horrifying thing was that this was only the food I could see at my end of the long table.

My stomach began to shake violently inside of me and I forced myself to hold down my food. I felt as if the odor was choking me. As if only the bile would cleanse my throat and allow me to breathe properly. My nausea increased as watched Cami jump on top of the table and begin to savagely devour the meat.

"Welcome, welcome." A voice croaked.

I wiped my watery eyes and saw there was a figure sitting faraway. The person was politely cutting into a hunk of meat and biting at it gingerly. Their long robe was covering almost every part of their body, apart from their hands and chin. The hood even seemed to droop so low as to hide their face from the world.

"Please, come sit and enjoy this offering."

I shook my head firmly, unable to speak.

As if this old figure could see me, they responded, "Come now… This is an offering to the heavens. It would be very rude of you to come into this sanctuary and not partake in this."

"I'm not hungry," I replied shakily.

"But you haven't seen everything we have to offer."

The figure stood up and began to edge closer as it lifted up different pieces of cloth. My eyes skimmed over the pieces of meat he showed me. I tried to block it from my mind. I was frozen in place. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't leave here without my mutt… But I couldn't stay here a second longer. I began to slowly inch backwards, grappling for the door handle. My finger found it and I wrapped them around it slowly. As I began to open it, the figure lifted up one, final piece of fabric.

I gasped and felt all my strength leave me. I dropped to my knees as the figure lifted up the platter. Seated on top of it was a cooked, human head. A head that looked extremely similar to Adam. Suddenly, the vomit came bursting forth and it spewed from my mouth.

"You must be hungry now, child," The figure croaked as it approached.

This wasn't a coincidence. No way could this be just horrible timing. The Gamemakers were trying to drive me… all of us crazy. They were doing anything they could to push us past the breaking point. That was what they had been doing this entire game. Pushing us to run and escape. Pushing us to fight. Pushing us to insanity.

They weren't leaving these games up to us. They were trying to make an example. Trying to show everyone they could destroy us… Turn _us_ into monsters.

The figure was now next to me and I could feel its hot breath on my neck. It was slowly coming down to my level and I looked helplessly to Cami. She just continued to chomp on her feast, oblivious to the world.

He lowered the plate into my vision and the head was right in front of me. Its expression was one of horror. This person died in pure and utter terror.

No, this person was created… Just like everything else in this arena. They were messing with our reality. Making it feel like time was accelerating rapidly in here. Another trick.

This wasn't Adam.

"Come now, just one bite."

"Fine."

Without a second thought, I bit down as hard as I could on the figure's bony hand. The mutt screeched in pain as it attempted to back away. The plate clattered to the floor and the head rolled through my vomit. I just bit down harder and grabbed its arm with bare hands. I pulled the figure towards me and surprisingly overpowered it.

I slammed it into the ground and spit its disgusting hand out of my mouth. I situated myself on top of it and pulled back its hood.

The figure was ancient. I believed it to be a male, but it easily could have been intended to be female. It didn't matter, it wasn't real. None of this was real… None of it except the other tributes and me.

"How dare you come into my sanctuary and attack me! How-"

"You would have killed me if I didn't eat your 'offering'," I spat, "You would have killed me because that's what you're programmed to do."

"Crazy! You're crazy!" The figure howled.

"Maybe," I whispered, "But that's what you want, right? You want all of us to lose it."

Suddenly, my eyes began to sting as tears welled up in them. They began to trickle down as I moved my mind away from Adam and more towards me. Grief overcame me as the weight of everything I had lost came crashing down. I had lost my home… my life. My joy was destroyed and I was left with nothing but this crushing sadness. I couldn't help but grieve over the loss of _me_. Charlotte was gone… She was destroyed and no matter what I did… No matter how much I acted happy or optimistic, she was dead…

I was dead.

"You bring us in here, knowing we're all going to die," I hissed as my tears splashed against the mutt's face, "You know we're never coming out of here. Even though one of us survives, everyone and everything that comes in here _dies_. You change us and turn us into monsters! You're pure evil!"

I grasped the knife attached to my leg and brought it up. Without an ounce of hesitation, I drove the knife straight into the mutt's heart and watched as he cried out in pain. He spasmed underneath me, but I didn't move. I let myself experience every part of it. This was just a mutt. This was just practice for what I was going to have to do to drag my half dead carcass out of here.

This was preparing myself for when I had to kill a real person.

Slowly, the mutt stopped fighting until it ceased moving all together. Once I knew it was dead, I stood up and wiped away the sludge-like blood.

"I bet you didn't expect that, did you?" I screamed to the Gamemakers.

"Cami!" I screeched, "Come! We're leaving now!"

Cami continued to eat the human flesh, still oblivious that I had just killed something. I stomped over to her and grabbed the rope that was lying on the ground.

I pulled on it harshly as I yelled, "We're leaving! You're just a stupid mutt. _You_ obey _me_! Now _come_."

I pulled on it as hard as I could and heard her yelp slightly. I yanked once more before she began to follow. She waddled slowly, almost shamefully.

"You should feel bad. I could have died and you wouldn't have even noticed."

I led her out of the room and into the hallway. As the door closed, I let my heart close with it. I wasn't going to let them drive me crazy. I wasn't going to sit around and grieve over everything I had lost. I was going to fight and I was going to kill. No more 'nice, good girl Charlotte'.

Now it was just whoever the hell I am now.

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine: <strong>

**Hawk's POV:**

I sat in the shadows as the mutts past by me. They had been chasing me for quite some time, driving me into the basement. This was honestly one of the last places I wanted to be. As much as I liked the cover it would give me, this place just screamed death trap. There were so many things that could go wrong down here… So many corners I could get trapped in.

I tried to avoid the thought of a cave in. In fact, I tried to avoid thinking of Asita in general. It wasn't that it was devastating for me. It wasn't life ruining or soul crushing… it was just painful. Any pain that I didn't have to deal with right now was beneficial for me. Right now, it was easier to just think of her snarky laugh or her sarcastic tone than her body crushed to death. It was almost helpful to pretend to hear her voice in my head, giving me commentary every step of the way.

Once I was sure the mutts had left, I slipped out of the darkness and began to retreat. I wasn't sure where I had entered and I had a feeling it would take me some time to find my way out of here. This basement was almost worse than the underground laboratory that we had spent days in. Although this had an easier layout and distinguishable rooms, it was horribly lit. It was like trying to find your way around a room in the pitch black. Even if you could remember what hallway went to where, you still couldn't see it properly enough to spot any differences.

I felt my way along another path and tried to ignore the stench. It was a mixture of mold and… Panem, I didn't know what else. Whatever that smell was, it was putrid.

As I delved further into the hallway, I could immediately tell something was wrong. The air was stiller here… As if there was no outside air seeping into this place. The already dark corridor was easily becoming dimmer. The walls… They seemed to be becoming narrower.

I reached the end of the hallway and noticed light seeping through door. I opened it shyly and stepped in.

It appeared to be some sort of study. Leather-bound books lined the shelves and candles flickered around the room. Papers were tossed around aimlessly and everything was in a bit of disarray. It looked all but abandoned besides the lit candles.

Suddenly, I heard a noise and turned to my right. I dropped into a stance as I noticed a figure step in through another door. The boy from District Five saw me as well and brought out a hammer. He was extremely pale and looked almost near death. I was skin and bones and it looked like I could snap him like a twig easily. Before either of us could make a move, both doors slammed shut behind us.

I turned around and tried to open it. The door was locked tightly. Suddenly, I realized why the mutts had chased me down here. The Gamemakers brought us both to this room. They wanted us to kill each other.

I grabbed a knife and whirled around. I sent it flying and the boy yelped. He ducked and scrambled behind the desk. I cautiously began to approach, wary of that hammer. It wasn't too formidable, but if he caught me in the right spot with it I would be dead meat.

As I rounded the corner, I heard a small shuffle behind me. Before I could react, he was suddenly behind me and shoving me into the bookcase. My face was slammed hard into the wooden shelving and it collapsed under me. I attempted to turn, but he was surprisingly strong as he dragged me across the wall. As I mangled myself out of his grip, I crashed into another shelf. It began to tip and I dove to my right. I stood up and intertwined my fingers through another knife. Right as I was about to throw it, he froze.

I followed his gaze and froze as well. Behind the fallen shelf was a metal door… A metal door that was now slowly swinging open.

"They didn't want us to kill each other," I muttered, "They wanted us to find this."

"Truce?" the boy asked in a surprisingly high voice.

"Temporarily," I huffed as I inched near the door.

As I peeked my head into the doorway, I stumbled back in disgust.

"What?"

"That smell," I coughed, "It's coming from there."

"You mean the smell rotting meat?"

I gave him a wary look as I asked, "How the hell do you know what that smells like."

"Work in a butcher shop," he commented as he stepped in front of me guardedly, "but you grew up in the meat packing district. I'm surprised you didn't recognize it."

"We don't pack rotten meat," I snapped, "Plus, not all of us do that kind of work. Aren't you supposed to be a scientist or something?"

"Valid point," he responded as he walked into the black doorway without flinching.

I followed him into the darkness as I clenched my nose. This door too shut ominously behind us, but neither of us turned around to check to see if it was locked. At this point, it didn't matter. Doors lined the hallway to our left and right. The boy opened the first door and his eyes went wide. I peered inside the well lit room and gasped. Inside was a person who was strapped into a chair and missing both legs.

Their flesh was rotting away.

Their expression was one of pure agony and I followed the massive blood trail with my own eyes. It led back into the hallway we were in and continued forward. As we progressed we checked every room. Inside each was a confined corpse. Each person was missing a series of limbs and had lost copious amounts of blood.

As we reached the end, there was only one more door before the last. The boy opened it and gulped. I observed it as we passed by and chills went up and down my spine. Inside were two chairs.

They were both empty.

The message was clear. We weren't supposed to leave here alive.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

As I opened the door, I couldn't stop myself from shaking. This was too disturbing… Too dark. How could the Capitol enjoy watching this? How could they like watching how every single thing tore us to shreds? How could-

My entire train of thought stopped as I witnessed the horror in this room. It was quite large and spacious. Wooden tables were spread out across the room. Across every single one was a corpse of some sort. Blankets covered each body, but one. At the far end of the room was an uncovered body and a man was standing over it with his back to us. He was humming some sort of tune as he merrily did whatever he was doing. I also immediately spotted a bed in the far corner as well as a bucket. Several mugs of, what I hoped, was water filled the room, but no food in sight. When you added in the locking doors, this didn't seem to be this man's work station. It was his prison.

The door slammed behind us loudly and the man spun around. He had on a surgical mask and an apron. Both were drenched in blood and I saw that he was holding a bloody saw in his hands. Droplets of blood on his glasses were illuminated by the overhanging light. His eyes had a crazed look to them.

"Ah, more subjects. I haven't new subjects in so long…"

I gagged as I saw the corpse he was hacking away at was also rotting away. Although the smell hadn't gotten to me, I knew that this image would never leave my mind.

The man began to approach us as he whispered, "If you would just lie down for a minute… I would appreciate it that so much."

"No way, you freak," Hawk yelled as he threw his knife.

The man dodged it swiftly and sighed, "Fine, if you want to play the hard way we can. But don't say I didn't give you a choice."

He turned around and made his way to another table. He pulled the cloth off and the light danced off of the numerous amounts of tools.

"We're still working together, right?" Hawk asked.

"Yep," I replied.

Slowly, the man lifted a giant saw from the table and began to pull on something. Suddenly, it whirled to life and the blades began to dance furiously.

"Hide," we both said in unison.

Hawk darted to the right and I ran left. I made it near the middle of the room when the man… _mutt_ began to slowly turn around. Without thinking of the consequences, I hid in the only place I could think of. I lifted up a sheet and placed myself on top of the corpse. I held my breath as I felt the spoiled flesh squish underneath me. I avoided looking at the carcass all together and shut my eyes.

"You both really are making this hard for me," the man sighed, "More fun for me."

Suddenly, I heard the buzzing saw connect with something. With a sinking feeling I realized he was bringing right down the center of a table. The man methodically began to saw his way down rows of tables. He slowly began to inch nearer and nearer to me until I thought I would wet myself with fright.

Then, right before he reached my table, the mutt yelled in pain. I used this time to roll out from underneath the blanket and I hit the floor. I scurried underneath the table adjacent to me and looked over. The mutt pulled a knife from his shoulder blade and threw it on the ground.

"Found you!" he cackled in delight as he charged away from me.

I grabbed the knife and stood up. The mutt was charging towards Hawk who was tucked away in a dark corner. Hawk threw another knife but the mutt dodged it flawlessly. As he neared Hawk, I ran forward and chucked the knife. It wobbled through the air and the hilt barely hit the mutt's calf. However, this stopped the mutt for a second and Hawk took that time to go straight between his legs. Hawk rushed towards me and the mutt turned around, not in fury, but glee.

He was enjoying this. Being stuck down here had made him go absolutely mental. A horrible pit developed in my stomach as I realized he was just like us. He was trapped in an unimaginable hell, surrounded by death. This, right here, was what the Gamemakers were trying to turn us into.

They were trying to make us go insane.

As he dashed after Hawk, I dove to my left and got around him. I swiftly flanked him as he blindly chased after Hawk. Hawk pushed a table down and the mutt stumbled over it. As he stumbled, I drove my hammer down onto his skull and a loud crack resonated throughout the room. The mutt fell and yelled in agony as he impaled himself on his own device.

I gasped in horror as I saw for a split second the whirling blades tear through him. I swiftly turned away and used a nearby table to steady myself. Suddenly, his screams turned to laughter. He maniacally laughed through the pain and I couldn't imagine how he was still alive.

Suddenly, the door we entered swung open and I bolted towards it. I stumbled down the hallway, avoiding all the corpses in the open doorways. Each one now almost appeared to be mocking me as the mutt's laughter died out. I slammed through the last door into the study and stumbled to the ground. I breathed in and out, gasping for air.

After a few minutes, Hawk appeared behind me and asked, "You okay?"

I nodded as I wiped away a few straggling tears. I turned towards him and saw he was now carrying a few new things. Not only had he collected his knives, but he had also snagged several of the mutt's tools.

"The chainsaw was unusable. Too much gunk in it."

"Chainsaw?"

"Never mind," Hawk huffed.

Before I could reply, the anthem rang out and I jumped in surprise. It was nighttime already?

A projector descended and the first face shocked me thoroughly. Valhalla's pale, emotionless face was splayed across the wall. In the beginning, I saw this picture and saw her as weak. Now I looked at it and could see the mastermind in it. Still, I had outlived her. Even through her calculations and tactics, I managed to survive over her.

"Thank Panem," Hawk hissed, "There is justice in this world."

Her face shimmered away and Leith's appeared next. Another Career was dead. It was always a relief, but at the same time scary. If he was dead, that meant someone or something took him down. Something I would have to deal with.

The anthem ended and we just sat there in silence. Exhaustion from the day's events washed over me and the idea of even moving sounded impossible. I looked over at Hawk and observed that he seemed to be the same way.

"Maybe we-" I began.

"We both sleep here," he interrupted, "Whoever wakes up first leaves. No questions, no stealing, no killing. Just leaves. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes," I sighed as I began to make a space for myself in the corner, "My name is-"

"It doesn't matter. I really…. I really don't care," Hawk whispered sadly.

I nodded, not wanting to bother him further. As I began to drift, Hawk blew out several of the candles.

Right before he blew out the last candle he whispered, "Next time we run into each other I will kill you. Just wanted to give you fair warning."

I shuddered slightly at the thought of fighting anything at this point. All I wanted to do was sleep… Sleep and never wake up. I had seen so many things… Things that would break so many people. Things that _did_ break Winnie. Yet, I wouldn't let myself crack. If I was going to leave here, it had to be sane.

Otherwise, it would be like not leaving at all.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi guys.<strong>

**First off, I want to apologize for the lack of update for… gosh I think it's been almost a month now. At least 3 weeks. **

**Life update: After the last update, I was going to Idaho for a senior prom. Super fun, by the way but literally the day before I left my grandmother died. It was not unexpected, she has been sick for almost my entire life. However, it was still sad and my grandpa did outlive her. That meant when I got back there was a lot of things for my parents (my mother is the eldest child) and myself to deal with. While they dealt with taking care of my grandpa and, well you know, I dealt with my little sister and took care of her and such. Anyways, long story short, I had very little time to write until about last weekish. And the time I did have well, let's just say I didn't really want to write about people dying and fighting for their lives haha so thank you guys for being so patient! Everything is good now and, hopefully, we'll be back to regular weekly updates!**

* * *

><p><strong>Also, I want to give a special… shoutout?... to the people who have so wholeheartedly supported the Vahalla living theory. Y'all know that would totally be something I would do ;D you know I love my twists and I totally contemplated doing that even before I wrote that chapter. However, let's be realistic (because I know some of you are still and will be disappointed now that her death is confirmed) it's not the cutting out her tongue alone that killed her. She had a spear in her leg, a deep knife wound in her back, and she had already cut her arms up twice. That, my readers, is a lot of blood loss. So whether she truly did die from drowning in her own blood or simply from losing too much, you can decide. I have what I think killed her, but it's always up to interpretation.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Anyways, thank you so much for reading and dropping a review (if you didare going to). I'll talk to you guys later!**

**Europa**


	53. Day Fifteen: Part One: Devour

**Day Fifteen:**

**Part One: Devour**

**District Five:**

**Admyer's POV:**

I forced myself awake at the small sound of rustling. As my vision began to come back to me, I glanced around. All of the candles had burnt out except for one. In the flickering light, I saw a small flash of movement and scrambled to my feet. I gripped my hammer and skirted around the corner of the desk. The small scuffle met my ears again and I chased the sound to another corner of the room.

A rat.

I stared down at the small, defenseless rat as its beady eyes glared at me.

"You're not going to try to kill me, are you?" I mumbled, as if the creature might respond.

It swiftly scurried away and this time I let it disappear into the darkness. I ran a hand through my hair as I looked around the room. Hawk was long gone. In fact, it was almost as if he was a ghost. The place where he slept last night appeared to be untouched. There was no sign that the boy from District Nine was ever even here.

"Another thing someone has over me," I muttered as I began to collect my supplies.

True to his word, he hadn't snatched a single thing from me. Honor in the Hunger Games was hard to come by. If I had woken up first, I wasn't sure if I would have acted in the same way.

I slowly could feel any confidence in myself cracking and shattering. It felt like I didn't belong here. That there was no chance I was ever going to get out of this. I knew every tribute that was left alive. Cami was a clever leader. Charlotte seemed to be very resourceful and skilled with her rope. Hawk just showed how truly fast, sneaky, and dangerous he was. Then there was Ruth, who had this unstoppable perseverance and fierce mentality.

All of the tributes left had their own talents, skills, and mindsets that all outshined mine. These were the type of tributes that made it to the end. These were the type of people that the Capitol rooted for and expected to win. I wasn't supposed to make it this far.

I was that ordinary kid who died in the bloodbath or died first in an alliance. I was that kid who maybe hid and made it to the Final Eight, but was eventually flushed out by muttations and then slaughtered. I was that kid who nobody noticed and practically nobody cared about. My death was just one of many, except no one was disappointed. In fact, it wasn't a matter of 'if'. It was just a matter of 'when'.

I packed up the last of my supplies but just slumped on top of the desk. It was so hard to keep pushing and fighting. Every skill I had, someone had more of. Sure, I was kind of quiet and stealthy. Hawk was more so. Sure, I could be quick on my feet and clever. Cami could think circles around me. Sometimes I could used my surroundings to my benefit. Guess what, Charlotte would have used it first. I'm not even going to try to compare my attitude to Ruth's. That's like comparing a toy truck to a train.

The point was no matter what I had going for me everyone else had more of. It was like being a small fish in a pond full of piranhas. I was going to be devoured.

Before I could continue to beat myself down further, I paused. What would Winnie say? As I thought about it, it was as if she was speaking to me in this exact moment. She would say some optimistic bullshit about how everything would be ok. She'd go on and on about that for a while and then eventually say something insightful like 'You're just a jack of all trades.'

I paused in my dream scenario and thought about it. I wasn't a jack of all trades, but there was some truth to that. Everyone may have better skills than I do, but do they have _more_? Cami and Ruth were like bulls. You could hear them from a mile away usually. Charlotte, for lack of better words, wasn't conventionally clever and Hawk wasn't very physically strong. I may look like you can snap me in two, but I can sure pull a nasty punch.

Suddenly, my confidence was rebuilding itself. Perhaps being average benefited me. I was somewhat stealthy, strong, clever, and resourceful. I was determined enough that I wasn't going to just keel over and die… And that _has_ to count for something! Maybe being okay at a lot of things was better than being amazing at just a few.

I pushed myself off the desk and left the room. I just had to stick to my strategy. Avoid tributes and let them kill each other. Sure, it was cheap… But if it kept me alive, it would be worth it. Just let all of the star players massacre each other, like I had been doing this entire game, and swoop in at the end. They'll all be injured and I'll be fighting ready. Fit to take on anyone of them.

It was slightly relieving to think through a game plan. To build myself up and tell myself that everyone would work itself out. However, the relief was quickly swallowed by the terror of knowing that this was the Hunger Games.

Things never worked out the way you planned them.

* * *

><p><strong>Mentor's POV: <strong>

**Memory's POV:**

I sat down next to Ophelia as we helplessly watched the games continue. At this point, there was no way anyone had enough money to use the sponsoring system. Most of the mentor's left at this point. They could easily watch from the comfort of a plush couch or drown themselves at a bar. The only advantage to being here was seeing what each individual tribute was doing all the time.

At this point in the games, though, if anything slightly exciting happened the Capitol would see it.

"Why do we always torture ourselves by staying here," I whispered to Ophelia as she watched Ruth.

"I don't know about you but this isn't torture. I'm just doing my job."

"Your job is done. There's nothing any of us can do for them."

"No, but I can learn. If I learn, then I can help the tributes next year," Ophelia recited.

"Valid point," I recognized as I peered around the room.

No one was here except for us and one other mentor. Rouge sat rigidly on the end of her seat as she almost robotically watched the screens. I felt like I was watching a marionette being played by its master.

"I suppose that's why she's still here," I mumbled, "She made it quite clear how she felt about her tribute, Camilla."

"Probably. She's a smart girl," Ophelia murmured.

"Not smart enough to join our cause."

"In the end, maybe that made her the smartest of us all."

As soon as the words left her mouth, it felt like a punch to the gut. Ophelia, the ring leader of all of this, was calling us stupid for attempting to change things? She was calling that Career smarter for being content to just sit here while everyone else was in misery?

"Oh really," I sneered, "Why exactly is that? Because you think we're all going to die now?"

"I don't want to argue with you anymore, Memory," she sighed in exhaustion.

It was true we had been arguing a lot. Our usually easy, breezy friendship had been decaying ever since we were caught. My paranoia was getting the better of me and I kept snapping at her. Usually she would keep her cool, but there had been a few times she had bit back.

"I just don't get why you would say that-"

"Because I'm worried too, all right? Not just about what is going here but what is going on in the arena. I'm worried about Ruth and I'm sitting here, trying to do something productive. Sorry I'm not constantly watching every word that leaves my mouth so I don't set off the ticking time bomb that is named Memory Summit."

I took a calming breath in and out, trying to not react. Ophelia was right. It wasn't her job to sit here and make me feel better. She had a lot of pressure on her. She was carrying so much weight on her back right now. I shouldn't add to that.

"Listen," Ophelia whispered, "I'm not trying to hurt you, I just need you to listen. If worse comes to worse, we need a backup plan. We already know that whatever Lavender is planning is going to blow everything out of the water. At the end of the day, we have to take advantage of that… No matter the cost. We need to get the Capitol on our side… You do know how, right?"

I shook my head and she sighed, "Rouge. No matter what happens, she hasn't been a part of this. She is one of the only people that we know for a fact won't be hurt or killed because of our plan. Once the dust has settled, we _need_ her on our side."

"Why? What is so damn special about her? What about Lorie, the other Capitol pet?" I hissed almost jealously.

"Think of it like this," she whispered, "Everyone in our group right now is fire. Strong, raging, determined fire. We're all in this because of our emotions. In fact all of us, including me, are people who are fueled by their emotions. We're all very passionate people.

"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked.

"Fire is destructive. It's… explosive, unsafe, and uncertain… It isn't a comfort to the Capitol to not know where and how things are going. But Rouge is ice. Hard, cold ice. Ice is strong and, in large amounts, appears to be unmovable. It doesn't change. Do you understand this analogy?"

"Kind of," I muttered, "but what I don't get is the point."

"The point is… If I'm not around, what we've started has to fall on someone else. That person is you, Memory… And I'm telling you right now that if we want the Capitol on our side, we need to get Rouge there first. If she comes, she can convince some of them to follow."

This all felt like an information overload. For the first time, Ophelia sounded panicky and uncertain. She was feeding me plans and information that I didn't even know about.

"What do you mean if you're not around? That… that can't happen. We need you."

"I've talked to you and several others. If Lavender's plan takes me down, several of you know what to do. If it takes those people down too, it's up to you."

"If it takes me down?" I whispered.

For the first time in this conversation Ophelia looked at me. Her eyes were filled with grief and anguish. For the first time I could see how much of a toll this entire operation had taken on her. For the first time, I felt like I truly understood how strong she really was.

"Let's just hope it doesn't get to that point."

* * *

><p><strong>District Nine:<strong>

**Hawk's POV:**

I skulked through the hallways, trying to keep everything straight in my head. I had a vivid dream the night before. In my dream, I had woken up and the boy from District Five was sleeping there. Every time I would do something horrible. Sometimes I just stabbed him, while others I slowly gutted him. Once I beheaded him and began bashing his skull around the entire room. No matter what I did, I couldn't force myself to wake up from this nightmare. Every single time I thought I was finally awake, and then I would realize I had no control over my actions.

When I finally did wake up, I was swift to get up and get out. I knew I had to kill to get home. It was the name of the game… But I didn't want to be a monster. I didn't want to do sick things to my fellow tributes. I didn't want to play all the games that everyone expected you to participate in… I just wanted to get it over with. A simple knife to the spine or through the skull. Something relatively harmless… At least, something I believed was relatively harmless… I wasn't an expert on this subject.

As I continued down another hallway, my thoughts turned longingly to home. Never in my life was I so wishful for my life. Growing up in a family full of thieves and crooks… You either get with the picture or pretend you are. In all honesty, I always wished I had been born into something more normal. I even wished I was born into a dirt poor family and I had to get an honest job. Anything rather than stealing from people who already had next to nothing.

There wasn't ever any joy in that for me. Even though it made my family's life easier, I always knew they would go home and discover whatever I stole missing. Not knowing what happened was the worst part. Some, I knew, would be upset but just shrug it off. They didn't truly need it anyways. Then there were others that I knew meant they didn't get to eat. Maybe there spouse would beat them over it or a child could die from it.

The fact of that matter is you have to accept these consequences when you're a thief. You have to accept that you're hurting people that are hurting just as much as you are. My father and siblings always could… But not me. It was something that drove me to near depression at times… Knowing I was doing more bad in the world than good.

Oh Panem, did I wish I was there though. Anywhere but here.

I stopped in my tracks when a soft humming met my ears. It was so quiet that I thought I imagined it, but a few more notes drifted through the air. I slowly stepped towards the door nearest to me and edged it open with my foot. I peered through the crack and saw a girl. Her brown hair was hanging loosely down and her entire back was turned to me. She was obviously focused on something and seemed to be humming unknowingly.

Now was the time. Right here was the moment when I finally had to choose. Did I just continue to avoid everyone or did I take matters into my own hands? Did I decide that my life was more important than this girl's or let someone else do it down the road? Did I hurt someone who I knew was hurting just as much I was?

I drew out a knife and edged the door open further. At the end of the day, I chose myself over everyone else in this arena. Whether it was me or someone else who ended their life, it didn't matter. Everyone had to die in order for me to go home. I couldn't worry about my guilty conscious. I didn't get that luxury at this point.

I stepped into the room and raised my knife. I took a step forward, hoping to insure a clean throw. Before I could line it up properly, a loud growl met my ears. I jumped slightly and looked at the corner of the room. A small, black muttation was glaring at me and had its teeth bared. I turned my attention back to the girl, ready to throw, but froze when I saw she was looking straight at me.

I remembered her. She was the girl from District Ten. I specifically remembered her laugh. During training, it drifted across the room occasionally. Her laugh chimed like hundreds of tiny bells. She was always so happy and carefree.

The girl standing in front of me, however, was not her. Her brown eyes looked… dead. It wasn't the right word because there was still a spark in her eyes. Not a spark of happiness, but something else. A spark of madness. I couldn't tell if she was crazy or not, but I knew one thing. She wasn't happy. She was downright miserable.

"Were you going to throw that at me?" She asked with no inflection.

I nodded and she sighed, "It's nothing personal… But I'm going to have to kill you now."

Her nonchalant tone caught me off guard, but she quickly ordered, "Cami, get him."

I looked around in confusion, half expecting Cami to jump out of the shadows. However, the muttation began to charge towards me. I jumped back as it leapt at me and I realized it obeyed her for some reason. At this point, I couldn't fathom why but I immediately knew this was a problem. It turned around and opened its mouth slightly.

A small ray of light began to sizzle into existence, but the girl yelled, "No! No fire! Not unless I say so!"

The muttation stopped and seemed to send an almost sulky glare at the girl. I took this opportunity to throw my knife at the beast. It bounced off harmlessly. I was shocked at how strong and steely this mutt appeared. It was practically invincible. I grabbed another dagger, but now both of their attention was on me. I knew I couldn't take down both of them. I had to focus on one of them… The weaker of the two.

The beast gnashed its teeth at me as it began to charge. I dodged out of the way at the last second and sent a knife slicing through the air. With a yelp, the girl stumbled out of the way. She looked at it sticking out of the wall a few inches from her head. As I slid another one into my palm, I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes. A flicker she immediately stomped out of existence.

The beast charged at me again. This time it was my turn to feel fear. It seemed to be snowballing in speed and ferocity. The longer it was in battle, the more lethal and insistent it seemed to get. I used the same maneuver as I did before, but I felt the mutt's claws skim my thigh. I flicked my wrist and this time when my knife left my grasp, the girl ducked underneath it. She began to spin her rope slowly and cautiously. I grabbed three knives and charged straight at her. I could hear the mutt right behind me, but I refused to turn around. If I was going down, I sure as hell was taking her with me.

I sent one knife at her and she dodged it easily. However, I swiftly followed it up with two more knives. I expected at least one to sink into her chest, but she reacted sporadically. She tossed the rope at me and dove to her right. She shoved a wooden end table in front of her and both knives sunk into it. The rope flimsily hit my chest, but that wasn't what I was worried about. In pure panic, I tried to stop in my tracks but my momentum kept me going. The girl picked up the table and thrusted it into me. I was pushed backwards and tumbled over the charging mutt. I crashed to the ground, but quickly pulled a knife out of the end table. I threw it blindly as I scrambled to my feet.

I heard the girl hiss in pain and I knew it had hit her. I spotted the door I had entered and instantly ran towards it. Suddenly, I knew this was a mistake. I couldn't fight like this. I had to fight from the shadows and that was it. I couldn't confront someone head on like this. I wasn't even sure if I could confront _anyone_ in anyway. Scarlett died because I didn't save him. I wasn't the one who took him down. Asita was the one who handled Apollo. Asita was the one who protected me from Valhalla. All I did was run and hide. It was something I was damn good at… Something I wouldn't forget in the future.

Suddenly, I was pulled backwards. The breath was knocked out of my body as I slammed into the floor. I was slowly dragged across the floor as I clutched my neck.

There was a rope wound tightly around it.

I looked up at the girl. She was just staring down at me with an unreadable expression. For a split second, I thought maybe she would let me go. Maybe I could convince her to align herself with me. Maybe… Maybe…

Then she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

All hope vanished with those three words. I knew I had made a mistake. One mistake had gotten me killed. After everything… After all the dreams, hopes, and promises… After all the laugher, tears, and fears… All it took was one mistake and I was gone.

"Devour him."

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

As the words left my mouth, a pit formed in my stomach. Cami happily trotted over to him. For a second, it appeared that she was just going to lick him or rub up alongside him. Then, she opened her jaw and began. The boy shrieked in agony as she tore into his chest. I dropped rope and backed away from the scene. I covered my ears and began to hum, attempting to drown out the sounds. It didn't work. I could hear every rise and fall of his yells. I could hear the slurping and squishing of his fragile body. It could hear the deep, guttural purr of Cami as she enjoyed her lunch.

Eventually, I was greeted by the sound of a cannon and I sighed in relief. Even though she continued to eat, I was suddenly not bothered. The boy was gone. Now he was just another body… Another corpse that Cami had to eat.

I just killed someone… A real person… I remembered that boy. He was always standing in the corners of the room. He avoided everyone… He always seemed so sad.

But I had to do it. He was willing to kill me. It would be stupid if I didn't return the favor. In fact, I had no choice. It was either me or him. Even if I let him go, he would just try again later. If he had escaped, he might have even succeeded. Then again, he might have killed someone else…

Suddenly, my head began to hurt. I couldn't think about 'what ifs' right now. It was too hard… too painful.

I crawled over to where I had been sitting previously. I picked up my project and sighed. It had gotten broken during the fight. I would have to replace the spring… I would hopefully be able to collect it from his body as long as Cami didn't break that bone.

I removed several small bones and continued to weave the base together. After all the feedings, I decided that I needed to do something useful with the aftermath. After much trial and error, I managed to figure out a way to make a basic trap with the bones. It was a _very_ basic and crude version of the traps we would use in District Ten to keep the wolves out. I didn't even know if it would hurt anything… I glanced back at Cami and remembered the knives the boy used… Maybe I could attach…

I turned back to my trap and continued to weave the bones together. I stood up and walked over to the pile in the corner. I picked through the bones, looking for one to replace the spring. Maybe I could just use some rope or wire instead…

It wasn't _wrong_ to use these bones for traps. I mean, they were all from mutts! Well… Now there was a select few from the boy… Maybe I _shouldn't_ use those….

"But how are they any different from these?" I asked, "It's not like he's going to be using them."

What about his family. My stomach clenched at the thought. Oh God. Oh God his family just watched him get eaten by a mutt! And I was just thinking of…

"Cami!" I yelled.

She raised her head and peered at me. She began to sweep her tail back and forth and tramped over to me. Blood was smeared across her face, but she was almost grinning at me. She dropped a severed hand at my feet and I looked away.

"No… No we're not playing right now. He was… he was different from the others… Right?"

She used her snout to push it onto my feet and I just shook my head, "What part of no don't you understand!"

I walked over her and picked up one of my backpacks. I dumped out all of the severed body parts and kicked them.

"There's your food… _Your_ food!"

Suddenly disgust filled me again and I walked over to another knapsack. I began to open it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't deal with all this… this gore anymore. I sank to the floor and held my face in my hands. I tried so hard to not cry. I forced the tears back, but some still spilled over. Was it only yesterday that I resolved myself to being strong? To doing whatever it took to getting home?

Was I really crumbling so soon?

Suddenly, I felt a light pressure on my back. I looked and saw Cami's face seated on my shoulder. She was growling slightly, but was just resting her head there. Was this her… comforting me? I sobbed slightly and grabbed a piece of cloth from nearby. I wiped the blood away from her onyx scales and held her affectionately.

"It's nice not being alone… Even if you can't talk…"

As I sat there, I knew I had to stay strong. Now wasn't the time for a mental breakdown. Even though I just killed someone, I had to stand firm. I was in the final four. I was so close to home I could taste it. At this point, it was going to be over soon… One way or the other… I just had to be solid until then. I had to keep fighting and get out of here.

"We're going home soon," I cooed as she nuzzled me, "You and me… Whatever it takes, we're each other's tickets out of here."

I sighed as I dabbed the tears away. I picked up the knapsack and opened it. Inside was the cooked meat from the feast yesterday. I grasped a small piece of meat… It looked like it was glazed with some sort of honey coating. I glanced at Cami and saw she was eyeing it as well.

"No, you're food is over there."

She trotted away and I stared at the meat. It wasn't real… Even if it was… It had to be artificially made to look and feel human… It wasn't a real person. As I began to devour it, I had only one thought. I had to stay strong so I could fight. I couldn't be weak and underfed like the other tributes.

I had to stay strong.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys!<strong>

**Eulogies:**

**Hawk- I adored you. You were a tribute I was actually planning on killing very, very early on, but I fell in love with you. Every time you interacted with a tribute: Scar, Lyric, Ace, Asita… I just loved you more and more. Sadly, it was your time to go. All it took was one misjudgment… One mistake and anyone can die in the Hunger Games.**

* * *

><p><strong>I would like to thank you all so much for reading and, hopefully, dropping a little review! I'm so sorry for the month-ish hiatus. Honestly, all I can do is blame school. The last month has been killer and I had many, many projects, tests, and finals to complete. But now I'm done! I graduated and everything haha I mean, I will be graduating soon, but I'm done with the school part! So, once all that was behind me, I immediately began writing and out came this chapter! I had it planned for quite some time and it's nice to see it come to light.<strong>

**Two more sections**

* * *

><p><strong>Number one, I just wanted to address the… backlash I received last chapter over Valhalla's confirmed death. I'm going to say this only once. All the decisions I make are the ones I believe are the best for my story. 'My' being the keyword. If I did whatever I wanted to do, I would have had one victor this year and three tributes escape. Among those tributes would have been Asita, Winnifred, and Valhalla (all tributes I loved dearly). However, as I continued to write, I decided the escape plan wasn't what was best for the story. As I continued to write, I decided if, how, and when these characters died was what was best. You can sit and type and say what you believe is best. You can even say it in a purely negativehateful way and attempt to tear me and this story to shreds. However, at the end of the day, it is my story not yours. You can call me selfish, but I write for myself. I'm thrilled people love what I write and enjoy it, but I will not change anything just for other's satisfaction that they 'got what they wanted'.**

**Anyways, the only reason I am addressing this at all (I would usually choose to ignore this) is because of something I had to change. I now have someone else moderating all of my anonymous reviews. If they read something inappropriate, hateful, sexist, racist, or anything other than positive reinforcement, criticism, and ideas; they will not let it be permitted to be published. I've taken this precaution because of all the anonymous hate I received over my decision in my story. If it continues, I will disable anonymous reviewing all together. Then they will have to make an account and face me as themselves, which I can then block from reviewing and reading my stories. **

**Again, this situation is extreme and only if the extreme happens. I'm just saying this to show that, in the end, any flamers and haters will not win you won't get anything changed and you won't get any respect or recognition. You'll only miss good things.**

* * *

><p><strong>Number two (on a much lighter note)<strong>

**I'll be putting up a new pole! Who do you think will be the victor of the 226****th**** Hunger Games?**

**Cami: The Last Career?**

**Admyer: The Underdog?**

**Charlotte: The Survivor?**

**Ruth: The Avenger?**

**Don't forget to drop a review if you can I'll see you later guys!**

**Europa**


	54. Day Fifteen: Part Two: Fight

**Day Fifteen: **

**Part Two:**

**District One:**

**Brianna's POV:**

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," I heard Erika hiss from the living room, "Why the hell have the Gamemaker's not made that stupid mutt turn on her."

"The items were meant to give the tributes an advantage. They can't just take it away," someone argued.

"I swear, if that District Ten horse face wins these games because of that dragon… I'll… I'll just scream!"

The door swung shut as Reyna walked in the room. I wiped a tear away as she set down a small tray of cookies. She flipped on the television in her room and flung herself onto her bed.

"Thanks for having me over," I whispered as I stared out the window, "I couldn't take a second longer of watching this in my own house."

"No problem," Reyna shrugged, "You know people always come and go all hours of the day during the games at my house. My parents eat that shit up… Having guests and what not."

"You don't have to sit in here and watch it with me… You can hang out with your friends."

Reyna shrugged again as she watched Charlotte work on her trap, "Eh, they argue too much. I like the fact you stay calm and quiet. Want one?"

She waved a cigarette in front of my face. I cautiously took it as she opened the window and lit hers. I lit mine as well and breathed in lightly. It wasn't that I didn't like smoking… I just didn't have the luxury to do it very often. When you're poor, you don't spend money on many indulgences, especially ones of the addictive nature.

"You never mentioned what was so bad at home when you called," Reyna pried as my sister appeared on screen.

I looked away and took a deeper drag.

"It's just my father. He… he tends to get a little heated when the games are on… Usually he just sits in his chair with Cami and never leaves the room but now that Cami is in them..."

"What," she asked when I didn't finish my sentence.

"It's really funny," I said harshly, "When you're poor, no one gives a crap about you in this district. You might as well not exist. Now that my sister is in the games, we're the talk of the town. People are constantly inviting my father over to their house or out to drinks. He loves it. The attention, you know. 'Single handedly training this year's victor,'" I mocked.

"God, you sound exactly like your sister. Never thought I'd say that," Reyna mumbled as she blew smoke out the window, "Anyways, so what's the problem? Is his good attitude bothering you or something?"

"The _problem_ is he only has a good attitude when he's out. Now that he's tasted what it's like to be 'recognized for his talents', he's terrified of losing it. Every single thing Cami does that isn't perfect makes him blow his lid. If I even have the wrong facial expression he's ready chop my head off."

Reyna made an uninterested grunt as she continued to mindlessly watch the games.

"He talks about her like she's an object," I whispered sadly, "Like she isn't even his daughter."

"Why does it matter? You two have always hated each other," Reyna questioned as she blew smoke in my face.

I waved it away as I responded, "Because she's still my sister. As much as I dislike her and don't agree with her, we're still flesh and blood. I don't want her to… die."

Suddenly, the flicker of anger I had been carrying inside burned brighter as I barked, "And _he_ talks about her like she is some sort of racing horse. Like he put all of his money on her and, if she loses, there goes everything. He doesn't care if she loses and _dies._ He'll only be upset by the fact she won't bring the money home."

"Isn't that how it always goes in District One? You put your kid in training in hopes they will go out there and bring fame and fortune back?"

"Yes, but that doesn't make it fair… That doesn't make it _right_…"

Reyna shrugged as she passed me a cookie, "If it makes you feel better, I think she'll pull through. Look at her."

I glanced back at the screen. Cami was walking about with much more ease than before. Although her face was badly burned and her hair was all but gone, I could still make out my sister. I could tell it was her by the way her mouth was firmly set in a tight snarl. It was the same expression I saw whenever I spied on her training when I was younger.

"One thing anyone in District One knew about Cami was that she was a fighter. You didn't mess with her unless you wanted to end up hurt. Any kind of pain you did... She would pay you back tenfold," Reyna reassured.

"I suppose you're right," I sighed, "I don't even know why I'm worried. It's not like she would think of me if the situation was reversed. Heck, she probably hasn't thought once about me since reaching the Capitol."

"She volunteered for you."

"No, she volunteered because this was the year she chose months ago. If she had decided on next year, she most likely would have laughed her head off as I was dragged to the train."

"Maybe, but it still counts for something. Even if you hate each other, sibling bonds matter. Believe me, I would know."

I glanced away, remembering how much Reyna hated anyone giving her sympathetic looks. When we were both younger her older brother volunteered for the Hunger Games. He never made it back. Maybe that was why she was being so kind to me all of the sudden. She was trying to prepare me for the blow when Cami didn't make it back... When someone who was so prevalent in my life was just gone.

"I never told her how tough I thought she was. She was the only one who ever stood up to our father in any capacity. In her own warped way, she inspired me sometimes."

"You wanted to become a sadistic bitch?"

"No, I wanted to become _strong…_ I still do. I want to be able to say the things I want to say and do the things I want to do. Cami always seemed to be able to do both naturally. It was as easy as breathing for her to just be herself… Even if she was horrible and mean. It was a trait I admired."

"I suggest saving all the sentimental bullshit for when she comes back. Otherwise it's just going to hurt more if she doesn't."

I took a deep breath and put out the cigarette. Reyna could be so contradicting sometimes. It was hard spending time with her… It was like you were constantly putting together a puzzle that's pieces would magically pop out and fly away.

"So, at this point, you have two choices," Reyna started, "You can go home and tell your pops everything you just told me and be that courageous chick you dream of being or you can stay here and wait 'til the games are over."

"I suppose it doesn't really matter," I mumbled, "Fighting with my father isn't really going to make a difference. Cami won't know."

"I didn't say it would" Reyna shrugged as she puffed out more smoke, "I was just stating your choices."

I turned my head towards the window again. The clouds were hanging low in the sky and casted a grey shadow over everything. It felt like it might rain at any second. The streets were busy with people and noises. I could hear them all cheering and barking. It was like they let loose a hoard of animals in District One. They were so excited at the possibility of having back-to-back victors. It was as if Cami had already won... It felt so much more positive and surreal here. I slipped off the windowsill and flopped on the bed.

As I burrowed into the blankets I whispered, "Pass me another cookie."

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Ahmet's POV:**

"What's going to happen to our son," Nesta murmured to me for the countless time.

"I don't know, but worrying about it isn't going to solve anything," I repeated as I stoked the fire.

Nesta was fretfully pacing to and fro. She was always a ball of nerves… She worked too much for her own good. Ever since our son was reaped she was practically falling apart. She was constantly forgetting what she needed to do and wasn't taking care of herself at all. I practically had to force feed her to make sure she ate anything.

Dekka sat solemnly on the floor as the Capitol-issued television played above us. If you didn't own a television, the Capitol usually made you gather with friends or family who did. However, if your child was reaped it was your lucky year. You got your very own television for as long as the games lasted. Really, the generosity of the Capitol knew no bounds.

My daughter wasn't immune to the toxic environment she was in. Although very naïve for a nine year old, she wasn't stupid. She knew that the kids on the television never came back. The second she saw her older brother on it, she wouldn't stop wailing for days. After that she refused to talk. We hadn't gotten a word out of our usually bubbly daughter since.

I stood up and wiped my ash covered hands on my pants. I looked up and saw the psychic muttation practically floating through the hallway. Behind her marched the boy from District Thirteen and Winnifred. My gut twisted as I looked at her sunken, empty eyes. News was her father was taken to the same mental hospital as his vegetable-like wife. Apparently, he had tried to off himself. I suppose mental instability ran in the family. The poor girl never had a chance.

She was a good ally for my son. When she was alive, I really thought they had a chance. Admyer was many things and a hard worker was one of them. She knew what to do and he did the task. They were the best dynamic duo that I had ever seen come from District Five. I really, really thought…

Nesta, exhausted, fell into a chair. I walked away from the television and towards the kitchen. The only way I could keep my wits about me was by doing something productive. The sad thing was, I was quickly running out of things to do. There were only so many things to clean and fix before you were practically breaking things just to repair them again.

Admyer would have stayed calm. He would have just sat on the floor with Dekka and kept his cool for days. He was really good at that too… Waiting. He seemed to be the most patient and sane out of all of us.

Suddenly, I heard a crash and I raced back into the room. The end table next to the chair my wife had been sitting in was on its side. She was now standing up, staring at it, as her hands shook. Dekka was practically hugging the wall as she closed her eyes tight.

"Now why did you knock over that table," I sighed as I leaned over to pick up the cheap, old piece of furniture.

"I didn't realize it was there," Nesta replied.

"It's been there since… gosh, I think before Admyer was even born. How could you have-"

"Don't say things like that," she snapped.

"Huh?"

"I don't want to talk about the past or Admyer's birth.

"You don't really want to talk about anything," I replied, "Except 'what ifs' that no one has an answer to."

"I'm sorry," she laughed harshly, "Perhaps I should discuss what we should have for dinner while our son is near death on national television."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it," I argued.

"What else do you expect a mother to think about besides if her son is going to come home alright? I can't even sleep without dreaming of him not… not…"

She began to take shallow breaths and she clutched at her chest. A deep fear seized control of me as I stepped closer to her and grabbed her shoulders forcefully.

"Don't you dare! Don't you _dare_ go looney on me!"

"What?" she gasped.

"We are at risk of losing a son and a brother. I will not let this family lose a wife and a mother! Do you hear me! Admyer would never, _ever_ stand for you going completely _crazy!"_

She was shaking, and I quickly realized it was because _I_ was the one doing it. I let go of her and forced my hands to stay at my side.

"I'm not going crazy," she whispered as tears began to flow freely, "I'm just _scared_."

"We're all scared," I mumbled, "Including Admyer. He's undoubtedly the most scared out of us all… But he's also the strongest one in this family. He's the kid who started working well before his time because he saw we were nothing but heaps of flesh. He's the kid who took an extra job so we could actually come home and sleep. He's the kid who took tesserae without telling us, knowing the risks, because he loved us. He may not show it, or even think about it, but he takes care of us just as much as we take care of him."

"I just want him _home_," Nesta whispered, "I'd give anything…"

"Then believe in him," I said, "Believe he will get home. Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best because _we_ need you."

I nodded my head downwards and Nesta looked. Dekka currently had her arms wrapped around my wife's waist as she buried her face in her skirt. Nesta sobbed lightly and scooped Dekka into a firm hug. I stepped back and watched them, trying to keep my own tears back. This is what Admyer would want. He would want us together because he knows that is when we're strongest.

"We will be together," I murmured, "We'll be together for when you come home."

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Jill's POV:**

"You can just set that on this table," I pointed, "This is so appreciated."

"I'm just returning the favor," Thomas muttered as he set down a plate of game, "You were such a godsend last year."

I nodded in acknowledgement and patted him on the arm lightly. Last year, Thomas Swan's daughter was reaped. She made it to the Final Two and everyone thought…. I should say everyone _hoped_ she would make it back. He had already lost so much… He was a strong man to still be even moving about and thinking of others.

"Well stay for as long as you like," I smiled, "I need to go fetch some more refreshments."

Thomas nodded and headed towards the living room. I had no idea how the Hunger Games worked in other districts but in this one we supported each other. When the children were reaped, it felt like half the district went to one family while the other half visited the other. Then, sometime in the middle, you swapped. I'd like to think it was always out of kindness and love.

But from personal experience, it was sometimes out of relieving your own guilt. The guilt came from the thought, "Thank God it wasn't my child." Sadly, this year I didn't get the luxury of having that.

What an odd feeling it was to feel guilty over something you had no control over.

I stepped into the kitchen and picked up one of the pitchers filled with some sort of beverage. I shuffled over to the sink and peeked out the window. I could see my husband in the distance working on something. Ever since Charlotte had left, he had barely even come in the house. He was constantly doing farm work.

That was another nice thing about District Ten. It was so big and spaced out there was no way our Peacekeeper's could force us to watch the games. It was impossible to keep track of everyone, especially when we were coming and going so frequently. Plus, animal's don't just suddenly take care of themselves when the games start.

"They still eat and shit themselves, just like the rest of us," I muttered under my breath.

I swiftly raised my hand to my mouth and covered it. Another pesky problem I was having as of recently was cursing. I never cursed and now… It just slipped out. It was something I was constantly correcting Charlotte on. A lady, and most well-mannered humans, never curse. It just isn't needed or becoming of anyone.

Look where all my correcting and grooming got me. All of my lessons and nagging weren't helping my daughter now. Knowing proper table manners helped _shit_ when she was forced to eat… mutts. Look at my daughter. She's all grown up with nothing but a broken heart to show for it. I remembered when she was a little girl and she would come home with such a huge smile. There were only a few times she came home with tears. All it took was drying her eyes and telling her it would be alright and her giant smile would reappear. She always bounced back from everything so easily. All I could think about now was what more could I have done? How could I have prepared her better for what was to come?

"She's stuck in a horrible place probably thinking her own mother doesn't love her… Why would she think that I did when I've never truly said it?"

Suddenly, the large lump that had been in my chest for weeks became overbearing. It was as if my lung had completely collapsed in on themselves. I set the pitcher down before I slid to the ground. I held my head in hands as I tried to quiet my sobs. I lost complete control over my body and mind. All I could was mindlessly cry for the first time in… years really.

"Oh dear," someone muttered, "It always happens at least once."

I looked up, but could barely make out the figure through the blur of my tears. The woman knelt down and pressed my head into her chest.

"Come now, it will be alright," she almost chided, "It's always us women who have to be the strong ones. The men do nothing. They aren't any help."

I recognized the usual brisk, cold voice of Cordelia Vale. Her daughter, Iris, died four years ago in those Hunger Games. She was slaughtered by the victor, Memory. I remembered it vividly because Iris was a wealthy, only child just like Charlotte. I remember feeling awful. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose your only child. Again, years later, I was in the exact same boat.

"Crying won't help one bit," she continued, "Not in this case. It doesn't cleanse anything when it comes to the Hunger Games. It just makes it worse."

"How," I croaked, "How do you do it?"

She immediately knew what I was bad manneredly referring to as she answered, "It's simple. You have to find something else to fight for. Something else worth caring about. It doesn't even come close to soothing you, but it does keep you living and breathing."

I tried to calm the tremors as she continued, "For me, it's taking care of those who need it. Every year one of the parents breaks down. I make sure I'm there to pick up the pieces. It can take years, but I make sure we all make it through. Iris made me realize just how important all life truly is."

"Char- Char- Charlotte makes me… realize that to," I choked out in shaky breaths, "She's always been so- so full of life and joy. That's why… That's why- why I…"

Cordelia shushed me as I cried even harder, "Come now, you'll have all your life to cry. There are guests in your house and your makeup is running everywhere, darling."

As if she cast a spell, those words calmed my crying in seconds. Cordelia knew manners to me were like a key being put into an ignition. Everything began to rumble and kick to life as soon as it entered.

"Oh God, don't tell me I've stained your clothes."

"Yes, but I suppose that doesn't really matter in the scheme of things." She muttered as she helped me up.

She grabbed a rag and roughly wiped my face. She tossed it in the sink and muttered, "If you're done for now, I'll cover for you while you reapply. However, if you think another crying bout is coming soon you should probably just step outside."

"How… How do I know?" I asked embarrassingly, for multiple reasons.

"Believe me, darling, you'll know," she chuckled darkly.

"I think… I think I'm fine. I don't need to put more makeup on, though. I'll just bring out the refreshments and maybe lie down…"

"Of course you don't need any makeup. You're one of those atrocious people who always look as fresh as a spring flower in first bloom. God, you don't even get all puffy after crying! How unfair life can be," she rambled as she picked up a plate of desserts.

Knowing Cordelia, she was being overly trivial on purpose. She was trying to distract me in any way possible: compliments, manners, and petty comments. I smiled at my friend as I grasped the pitcher firmly.

As flecks of dust danced freely through the sunlight I whispered, "You lead, I'll follow."

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Nathan's POV:**

I walked casually through the streets as the Peacekeepers marched by. I held onto the empty box tightly and made the impression of it being somewhat empty. One of the Peacekeepers glanced at me fleetingly as he continued on his way. Once they were out of sight, I tossed the box to the side as I entered the empty Hob. I glanced around, trying to find who I was looking for. Not a single soul was in sight. I sighed heavily as I ducked out of the illegal market and made my way to the nearby fence. I weaved through some backstreets, hoping to avoid any additional Peacekeepers.

As I neared the fence, I cautiously listened. Even when no sound met my ears, I was still terrified to go near it. I touched it lightly and stumbled back in sheer fear. I let my heart calm down to a normal pace as I reassured myself that I was still unharmed. I shakily pulled the fence back and squeezed through it. I sprinted away from the border until I hit the woods. I had only been out here a handful of times and every single time I almost had a heart attack. I never came out here unless it was absolutely necessary.

As I stomped through the brush, I looked for the carvings that Devon and Ruth had shown me once. They were small, almost nonexistent, but they pointed you in the right direction. I followed them and eventually found my way to a familiar clearing. A small creek ran through it, and I saw a familiar figure huddled over something.

"Nelly, what are you doing out here?" I asked, relieved that she was out here and safe.

She whipped around with a look of shock as she asked, "How the hell did you find me? More importantly, how the hell did a _merchant_ kid like you even get out here?"

"You seem to be forgetting that all of your friends are mine too. You really think I haven't picked up a thing or two?" I stated, avoiding mentioning Devon specifically.

"Whatever," she huffed as she brought her quail around and continued to pluck it, "Why are you here?"

I began to approach her as I said, "My family went to visit Ruth's today. They're shaken, but seem to be holding up. More importantly De… Some other families were there, including yours. You weren't in sight and no one knew where you were."

"You can say his name, you know," she growled, "I'm not a train wreck like Ruth. Anyways, why is it so damn important that I be around?"

"Because the Peacekeepers will beat you until you're near death for not watching."

"You're not watching right now," she pointed out.

"Your father used to be a Peacekeeper, you know how it works. Merchant kids like Ruth and me can get away with almost anything. Seam kids can't."

"I honestly don't give a flying _fuck,_" she cursed, "about the Peacekeepers or these Hunger Games. They're going to over soon and me watching isn't going to change shit."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," I sighed.

"Aw that's sweet," she mocked, "but guess what, I don't need your help. Save it for when Ruth gets back. She needs all the help she can get."

I ignored her jab as I continued, "You just haven't been acting… normally since Devon died."

She looked up and gave me the most dumbfounded look, "Well, no shit. Really? I saw my best friend slaughtered on live television and you noticed a change in my demeanor. Wow, you really are observant. Have you thought about going into therapy or medicine?"

"Stop pushing everyone way," I barked, "It's ok to be hurt and sad."

"Oh, I'm not sad anymore," Nelly laughed, "I'm _pissed_. I'm so fucking pissed off that the healthiest way I know how to deal with it is by slaughtering countless animals."

"What-"

"Don't even ask me why. If you honestly don't get it, then you're just a _fucking_ moron Nathan."

"I just want to help," I sighed in a defeated way.

"Well you can't," she growled, "No one can. Right now, none of us can do a damn thing except wait to see which messed up kid gets to live. Here's hoping it's Ruth, but I'm not holding my breath."

"Now why do you say that? Is it because you think she's… she's lost it?"

"Why would I think that?" she asked honestly.

"She killed two people… Kind of viciously," I muttered, trying to suppress the mental images.

"No moron," Nelly snarled, "It's because she's _weak_. One of them was a trigger happy Career who was using her and the other was a sadistic _bitch_. God, if I were in there I would have done more than cut her tongue out. I would have opened her fucking up and torn her insides apart! Gutted her like the fucking animal she was."

"That's pretty harsh," I reprimanded, "You don't know-"

"Oh, I know _plenty_," Nelly growled, "Did you see Devon during the interviews? He could charm the grouchiest old geezer if he wanted to. He's a natural born salesman and you know what he looked like? He looked beaten and dead. There wasn't a single shitty spark left in him and he wasn't even in the arena! Ruth said it had something to do with that crazy chick Valhalla and I'm going to trust her judgment. For fucks safe, Nathan, she melted a girl's face off and trapped another underneath mounds of rubble. She tried to kill people in the most tortuous, long, painful ways possible! You don't think she was capable of tearing Devon's hope and spirit to shreds?"

"She was still a person," I reasoned, "Just like Ruth is."

"Nathan, let me tell you something about fucking people," Nelly yelled as she waved her knife around, "There reaches a point where you lose that 'I'm human too' bullshit. When you purposefully torture and slaughter other people, you aren't human anymore. You're a fucking monster and deserve to die ten times worse than how you've hurt others. Valhalla was a monster just like our fucking President!"

I jumped, suddenly horrified after she said that, "Shut up Nelly!"

"No!" she screamed to the sky, "Our President is fucking sociopathic demon that deserves to be ripped apart and slowly tortured for the rest of her goddamn natural life!"

Her screams echoed through the forest and I half expected a team of armed men to pop out. I glanced around, trying to think of anything to calm the sporadic pace of my heart. I was usually so calm and put together but whenever Nelly or Ruth got like this... Anger scared me but treason? That was terrifying. Nelly slowly calmed down and took a seat again.

"My point is I don't think Ruth's a monster," Nelly whispered, "I think she saw an opportunity and took it. She killed the Career quickly and exacted her revenge on the demon spawn. I just think she's too weak mentally to win. She can't handle the pressure this is all putting on her. After all, she's just a merchant kid. She had no idea what she was getting into. Even after her sister died, she was still sheltered. I knew that and so did Devon."

"Why didn't you ever say anything then?"

"Nathan, do you honestly think she would have listened to any of us? She's the most stubborn, pigheaded person I've ever met and I was friends with her anyways. Shit, you loved her despite it."

I blushed as I murmured, "No I didn't."

"Yes you did," she laughed, "Just like I loved Devon… But none of that matters now. We can't go back in time and do the things we should have done… All we have is now and the future."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

She looked at me, almost with pity, as she said, "Nathan, I'm tired of this life. I'm tired of being scared, pushed around, and fighting just to stay alive. I'm done just being passive and 'breaking the rules' just so my family can eat. People are starting to fight again. People are starting to get the balls to say 'Fuck you! We're done'. It's time to _fucking fight,_ Nathan."

I trembled at her words, knowing that we could both be killed just because she was uttering them aloud.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do," she yelled, "A war is about to start and I'm going to be the first one ready to take some fuckers down. I'm ready to fight."

A chilly breeze blew through the clearing as she paused. Out here, away from the district, I realized how tranquil it was. The water bubbled lightly and the leaves danced through the air. It seemed so perfect and serene out here. I now knew why the Hunters loved it so much. I understood why this could be worth fighting for. Why giving your life for this sense of peace would mean something.

"The real question is," she whispered," Are you?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys!<strong>

**I decided to change it up a bit and do some family/friends POVs. It's something I've personally never done before so you'll have to tell me if you like it. I just wanted there to be a slight break in the games, especially because of how intense they've been. Don't worry, though, there will be a Part 3 to this day and I promise there will be some action! **

**Thank you guys so much for reading and dropping a review and I'll talk to you later!**

**Europa**


	55. Day Fifteen: Part Three: Nightmares

**Day Fifteen:**

**Part Three: Nightmares**

**District Ten:**

**Charlotte's POV:**

"Oh God, this just looks frightening," I murmured to my mutt as I peered around the open room. A few hours ago, I had packed up and moved everything back to the charred part of the mansion. As I went along, I hung limbs here and there… Just something to attract some attention. As I got closer to the center, I began to set up my strings on bones. I hung them around like the small banisters my family would loop through the house during celebrations. It did look very decorative… In a creepy, sickening way.

There was a point to this madness… To simply put it, the odds were if someone came this way they would _at least_ run into one of the dangling strings. The bones would clatter and I would know where they were. This would leave me with plenty of time to set up my trap and wait.

I curled up on the ground of the burnt floor and sighed. There was a gap in the wall that led outside. It looked so nice and welcoming. You could see the bright sun streaming inwards… But it was all a lie. Before I could even take a step towards it Cami began to growl. She could hear the electricity running through it. She knew it was just a fake hologram designed to fry some poor tribute. I came down here looking for a hole of some sort. Something I could get the tribute to fall into. They'd fall downwards and my Cami would be waiting at the bottom to gobble them up. It was a simple, but hopefully effective trap. I observed the room again. Maybe I had found something better…

I sighed again, holding my head in my hands. It hurt to think this much. It was so difficult to be constantly coming up with ways to survive or kill. That was why I was kind of glad I now had my little alarm system. It meant I could hopefully get at least a few minutes to relax before someone followed my twisted trail.

"We're ready for this," I cooed to Cami as I laid my head on her back, "You and me, we got this. Anyone who comes down here won't know what hit them. Who knows, maybe they'll come one by one… Like when the farmers just send the bulls into the slaughter house. Maybe things will be easy for once."

My mind raced back to the dull days of District Ten. What I would give to be back in that place I considered to be so dull.

"Dull sounds pretty good right now, you know?" I asked to no one in particular as I let myself drift for the first time in weeks.

I could almost imagine I was lying in a patch of wildflowers. I could feel the artificial light beating harshly against my face, but it was too easy to picture it being the burning sun. I arched my back and rolled my arms through the dry grass. I inhaled and smelling nothing but the sweet fragrance of daisies and horses. I listened to them tromp through the hills.

I let my mind wander for some time. The scenery would shift sporadically and suddenly, but I just flowed with it. Sometimes I was lying on the old, dusty couch in my house with the windows open. Other times I was waking up at a random person's house after a killer party. It was so simple to just drift through my insignificant memories… To travel back to the times I was most at peace with the universe.

I felt something begin to stir under me and I nudged the sense away. I willed myself to be anywhere else but reality. Suddenly, Cami slinked out from underneath me and my head hit the ground with a thud.

I was jolted back into my body and my mood turned sour.

"Thanks for that," I murmured as I sat up and yawned.

I rubbed the back of my head and blinked lazily. Maybe some people would be downtrodden and heart broken when they saw the arena again… But not me. I knew when let myself go that I would end up back here. Nightmares never truly ended. They always came back to haunt you.

I noticed Cami was staring intently at the door. A moment of panic seized me as I forced myself up. For a split second, I thought there would be a giant muttation ready to barge in and tear me limb from limb. I grabbed my rope shakily and waited. Relief swept over me as nothing jumped out of the doorway.

For another split second, I imagined Adam popping out and yelling 'Boo.' I chuckled at the thought before I glared at Cami.

"You scared me half to death. Now what exactly _is_ your problem?"

Cami remained as still as a statue. I lowered myself down to her level and gazed into her deep, dark eyes. All I could see was attentiveness and malice. I stood back up and tip toed to the doorway. I flattened myself against it. I pressed my ear along the outside edge of it and tapped the toe of my shoe against the wooden floor. I felt like I was a child again listening to my parents discuss whatever 'adult' things I wasn't allowed to hear.

Suddenly, I heard a faint rattle.

My back straightened as I heard a soft, "Shit," echo down the corridor.

I pushed myself back from the doorway and whispered, "It's show time."

I patted Cami on the head and motioned for her to follow me. I gathered the materials for my trap and raced towards the other end of the room. As I began to set it up, I tried to calm my racing heart. I was scared… Terrified that these were going to be my last moments. I had just killed someone earlier today and now… Now I had to do it again. This nightmare wasn't just going to go away.

I had to finish what was started the day it began.

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Cami's POV:**

"Shit!" I hissed in pain as I stumbled into several dangling bones.

I hopped over to the side of the corridor and tried to ignore the throbbing in my foot. Why the hell was this entire part of the arena _littered_ with bones? They were hung across the ceiling like holly! Why the hell would someone do this?

I began to lightly walk deeper into the den. Part of me thought this was some sort of elaborate Gamemaker trap, but I couldn't figure out what the point was. The Gamemakers wouldn't throw in some sort of giant man eating mutt this late in the game. Plus, no mutt could have devoured the meat off of these bones and _then_ decided to do a little decorating. No… This was definitely done by someone with an actual brain… Or, I guess, no brain since it led me right to them.

My other thought after I saw this was that this was something Valhalla would do. Some sort of grandeur trap that would mess with someone right before she went in for the kill… But she was dead. That just left pure insanity… And, honestly, Ruth had enough of that to open a charity and give it away by the crateful.

But then how did she get all these bones…

Dear Panem, I _really_ didn't want to think about it.

As I stepped over and ducked underneath the new décor, I tried to be as sneaky as possible. Sadly, that wasn't my forte. By the time I got to where it began to get really cluttered and thick, anyone with ears would have heard me. Maneuvering these was hard on its own, let alone when you added in my split. I knew I could take it off anytime now, but I wanted to make sure it was as healed as it was going to get before I started putting normal pressure on it. In the scheme of things, it was better to be safe than sorry. Not a motto I normally lived by, but there was a first time for everything.

I reached a doorway and paused. Inside I saw a corpse. It was a boy. He didn't stand out very well in my memory, but I could tell he was definitely a tribute… Even if he was in pieces. His suit stood out ghastly against his ripe flesh… Was it bad that I was more focused on the clashing colors than the fact I was staring at a carcass? However, my eyes soon wandered over to the backpack lying next to him. It was spilled across the floor. A bottle of water lay illuminated against the light. I smacked my lips and took an involuntary step forward.

Something… or _someone_ did this to the boy. Even though Valhalla was dead, I reaffirmed my previous feeling. This was a trap. Whether it was designed by the Gamemakers or a tribute, I had no clue… But, at this point, I needed the supplies. Plus, I didn't know if it was more beneficial to walk away from the trap. It might be just as dangerous to turn my back from whatever was waiting for me in there. Maybe going in _knowing_ it was a trap would put things in my favor.

I stepped into the room and looked around. I couldn't see anyone or anything in the near vicinity, but that meant nothing. Both of the other walls were collapsed and someone could have easily scurried away. I thought about perhaps peering around one of the walls, but I didn't want to turn my back to anything. I closed my eyes, breathed in deeply, and began to step forward. I took cautious steps towards the corpse. I strained my hearing, listening for even the slightest sound.

As I got closer, I remembered this room. It was the one I found refuge in after the large fire. The irony that I could meet my end here was almost laughable. What a minute… The fire started by that mutt… the girl from ten's mutt…

Then everything happened at once. As I took one more step towards it, I found my foot snared by a small ring of bones hidden partly by the corpse and the lighting. I stumbled forward and completely tripped over the body. As I began to fall, I suddenly heard movement behind me. As I continued to fall, I found myself heading straight into the exposed electric barrier.

With all of these things happening at once, I steeled my mind. I used all of my momentum to punch my arms forward onto either side of the exposed barrier. I felt the wood splinter under my fists, but they held firm. I used all my strength to keep myself away from the edge of the arena. The buzzing that emitted a few inches from my face caused my heart to beat abnormally fast. I collapsed forward and my arms were dragged down the wall. I could hear whoever was behind me converging on top of me. As soon as I stopped sliding, I brought my legs up to my torso. I swiftly kicked the body away from me and I heard a screech as someone tripped over it. I rolled over and sent another kick towards the same direction. I felt it connect with something solid and the person slammed into the ground.

I grabbed my sword and thrusted it to my left. It clanged uselessly against the charging figure and it leapt on top of me. I glanced upwards and saw it was the mutt. I felt its weight on top of my split and gritted my teeth. I grabbed my sword with both hands and placed it between the mutt and myself. As it began to slow down, I pushed and tried to gain some leverage. I managed to shove the mutt to the other side of me and I jumped to my feet.

The girl from ten began to stand up and I charged. As I brought my sword down, the mutt jumped in between us and it hit it harmlessly. It gnashed its teeth at me and I backed away slightly.

"Nice trap," I sneered, "You almost got me."

"No, I still have you. You have nowhere to go," the girl huffed as she stood up.

"Don't worry; I don't need to go anywhere. You should be the one running," I lied confidently as I glanced around.

We both knew I had no chance in a fair fight. Her mutt was invincible and there was no way I could get to her through it. Even if I somehow managed to dodge the mutt, she would be right there ready to attack me. No matter what I did, I was exposed to one of them.

"We'll see about that," she snarled as she glared at me, "I'll admit I'm thrilled that you were the one to stumble upon this. I was ready for a round two."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't look like it will be much of a fight. You literally look like you took a leisurely stroll through hell. Nice face."

My temper flared as she pointed to her unmarked skin.

"And yet, I'm still prettier than you ever were." I lied.

Although it was completely untrue, the remark seemed to sting. We both glared at each other. I had killed her ally and she had inadvertently destroyed my body. We were both angry with the other for very different reasons. I broke her heart and she shattered my pride.

"Fire."

That one word sent tingles of fear throughout my entire body. They both backed up several feet and the mutt created a half circle of fire. The flames rose high, but nowhere near as high as last time. I could easily jump these flames.

"Kill her."

The mutt jumped through and landed a few feet in front of me. It charged at me and I raised my sword uselessly in front of me. I used it to keep the dragon's teeth from reaching any part of my body. Each time it pounced, I could feel myself faltering slightly. My arms ached from the constant shoving and the beast continued to inch closer and closer. Finally I was completely against the wall and it continued to ram into me. I screamed in fright as I felt its spit land on my face.

My entire body ached and I thought, for one second, it was time to give up. Now was the moment I accepted my fate and died. It was time to come to terms with everything and just let it happen. Fight through the pain and move on from this shitty life.

Then it bashed my body again with another pounce and I was jarred back into survival mode. I could feel the heat from the flames nearing me and I glanced around. There was nothing to use… There was nothing but…

I smiled as I began to inch towards my destination. With renewed energy, I shoved back and fought the creature off longer. I pressed my back flat against the wall and braced myself. It leapt with full force and I felt its entire body on mine. In that second, I used the momentum and pushed it to the side instead of back. It stumbled slightly to my left and I continued to push.

"Are you impervious to this, _bitch_!" I screamed as I shoved it again. With its own weight being used against it, the mutt fell backwards… Right on top of the open edge of the arena.

"No!" the girl shrieked as her mutt began to convulse.

Miniature spirals of lightening shot towards me and I felt the sparks connect with my skin. It burnt slightly, but I ignored the stinging pain. Before I could even collect myself, I felt something wrap around my neck. I was pulled backwards, but I kept my footing. Instead of falling into the dying flames, I hopped over them. With one final howl, the creature collapsed on the floor where it continued to shake.

I grabbed a dagger and slashed at the rope. However, right when I cut it, a sharp pain registered. I yelled as a knife was driven into my shoulder. Before she could pull it out, I rammed my head back and felt it connect with her skull. She grabbed my wounded shoulder and we both fell to the ground. I pulled the rope off of my neck and ripped the knife from my shoulder.

Before I could turn towards her, I felt her fist connect with my head. My head hit the ground harshly and I felt my tender face scrape against the wood. I tried to push myself to my feet, but she forced herself on top of me. She punched me in the back of the head again and then she wrenched the knife from my hands. As she raised it, I bucked up and caused her to tumble to the side. I grabbed her floundering leg and sank my teeth into it viciously. She screamed in pain as I tore a small chunk of her calf and spit it out. She kicked me in the face and I went sprawling backwards.

I clutched my beaten face in pain as I backed up. I grabbed another sword and slashed it through the air blindly as I gathered my wits. After several seconds, I could manage the pain and looked around wildly.

As if she was nothing more than a ghost, she had vanished. I turned in a full circle looking for her. I stood up and ignored the slight pain in my foot as I stepped to the center of the room. Her rope was gone, as well as both of our knives and my other sword. I stomped the small flames that were spread over the fresh tribute's corpse and looked on its other side.

The bag of supplies was missing.

"_Motherfucker_!" I screamed, "Get back here right _now_! When I find you, I'm going to tear you to shreds you fucking _coward_!"

I gasped for breath as I stumbled forward with no clue which direction she had taken. I was going to win that fight. I had killed her stupid mutt and I was about to kill her. If I had just had a few more seconds…

I scoured the ground for any trace of her.

"I hate her," I snarled in pure rage, "I hate her more than Ruth! I hate her more than those stupid District Five rats! I _despise_ her!

I fell to the ground and tried to calm myself. This _was_ a victory. She wasn't little Miss Powerhouse anymore. Now she was just a regular old District Ten girl… And a stupid one at that!

"This is my game," I said to myself, "Never give up again! No matter what happens, you fight until the bitter end!"

I heard my father's voice in my words and embraced it. As much as I wanted to scream at him, when you're right you're right. I glanced to my left and observed the corpse of the dead mutt. If I could take that beast down, I could take anyone down.

Blood trickled down my body and I crawled towards my fallen supplies. At least she didn't manage to snag these. I pulled out the remains of what used to be my suit and tore a strip from it. As I treated my wound with my meager supplies, I fought to keep my renewed strength and energy. No giving up… Never again.

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

I sat on the floor with my head in between my legs. I was doing all I could to just _not _feel. There was a massive battle happening in my body. Some emotion, whether it be grief, anger, or something else, would viciously attack me. I would savagely fight back with whatever I had left until it disappeared. Then, within minutes, another attack would start. I was slowly losing all of my defenses. At this point, I had nothing to fight back with. I had nothing but this empty shell.

The anthem blared in my ears and I peered up. I watched as the opposite wall lit up and a single face was spread across it. The boy from District Nine was staring right at me. He also had no emotion. I couldn't tell what he was feeling. He was a blank slate… He was hiding from the world.

As he disappeared, the next wave was upon me. I felt grief for this boy I never even had a true conversation with. His life was gone and I was susceptible to feeling bad. He could have killed several people and my mind didn't care at this point. Anything that could destroy me it let in. No positivity. Nothing of value… Just devastation.

"He was boring anyways," a nasally voice chimed, "No need to feel bad about it."

I slowly looked over, not even having the will to grab my sword. Ruby was seated in the corner of the room. On either side of her were Alexei and the girl from District Five. She was smiling at me mischievously as she flipped her fiery hair.

"What do you want?" I asked, knowing she wasn't just here for the company.

"I just thought I'd pay you a visit before tomorrow," she sighed, "Tomorrow is a big, big day."

When I didn't respond, she continued, "Don't look so down. I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

"Liar," I murmured.

"Now that just hurts," she pouted, "After all you used to be my favorite. I mean, I don't _hate_ you now. It's just… You murdered my other favorite… So those two kind of negate each other I suppose."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Because it's all you ever think about now days," Ruby groaned, "'I killed Leith. I killed Valhalla. Devon's dead. I'm angry. I'm sad. I'm horrible. Blah, blah, blah, blah.'"

I didn't respond and just burrowed my face in my hands. I didn't need this right now.

"You don't need what? Someone pointing out how pathetic and stupid you sound? Ruth, this is an intervention! I'm here trying to get you to do what's best for you!"

_And what would that be?_ I thought, knowing she could now hear me. There wasn't a point in me talking if she knew what I was thinking anyways.

"To save yourself all this pain and grief. You're just tearing yourself to shreds. Listen, I get it. You're an _atrocious_ person. All you do is horrible things and that makes you a horrible human being."

Her words stabbed me and I tried to fight them off. For the first time in hours I could feel tears beginning to build up. It was one thing when your mind was telling you these things. It was another when someone else was.

"You betrayed your ally. You killed another tribute. Let's face it; you're all the things you hate. In fact, you're all the things everyone hates. There's really no getting around it."

"Getting around what?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Getting around the fact that you should just end it," she whispered sympathetically, "Save yourself all this pain and just kill yourself. At the end of the day, someone has to do it. It might as well be you."

"What?" I gasped as the tears spilled over.

"That's why you were ok with coming in here, isn't it? You wanted to die, well now's your chance. At this point, no one will miss you. No one will care. All it will do is save you pain and save someone else the hassle of having to do it."

Her words continued to burrow down deeper. Was she right? Was killing… killing myself something I should consider doing. After fighting for so long, was this the easiest way out? Taking matters into my own hands and ending it all?

"You came in here to kill monsters," she whispered, "Now's your chance to kill the worst of them all."

With hot tears in my eyes and looked up at her. Instead of a sympathetic person, I saw a mocking smirk. With a jolt of horror, I remembered she was a _mutt_. She was some horrible creation telling me that I wasn't good enough... That I deserved to die.

"Well you do," she hissed, "According to _your_ standards everyone does."

"The only monsters that need killing," I whispered angrily, "Are the ones like you… The ones that are constantly trying to destroy me and tear me down."

"How poetic! You're talking about inner monsters," she mocked, "But at the end of the day they're inside you. That makes you the real monster."

"You said you wouldn't hurt me so just get out," I suddenly shouted, "Get the hell out of here and go do whatever mutts do when tributes aren't around."

"Oh, you wound me so," she sighed, dripping sarcasm.

"You aren't real!" I yelled, "None of this is real!"

"Just because it's a nightmare doesn't mean it isn't real," she chuckled darkly as she stood up.

Without another word or glance, she glided away. She left the room and her two servants followed. It was as if she was never even here. The anger slipped away and I was soon consumed by sorrow again. Everything hurt… Feeling hurt…. Moving hurt… Even breathing hurt…

I wanted to end it all so badly. I wanted to just grab my sword and run myself through. The thought of it sounded _pleasing, _which brought forth a wave of disgust with myself. What had I become? I was a murderous swine who longed to die. Ruby was right. I was everything I hated in the world. Everything everyone hated.

I began to sob harshly. I cried for Devon… I cried for Leith… I even cried for Valhalla. At the end of the day, we were all just kids. Some of us were screwed up kids… Some of us were even monsters, but we were still just kids. I continued to cry, accepting the guilt that had been haunting me since the day Devon died. I felt guilty that I wasn't there to protect him. I let that guilt control me to the point where I was practically serving Leith. I let that guilt build until it became paranoia. Paranoia that led me to stabbing my ally in the back… I accepted that I _was_ horrible and that I did deserve death…

For the first time, I accepted what I had truly become. I had become this truly awful person. I was this… This fiend that was wrapped up in their own little world. This monster that was created by all the pain and grief this world had created. At the end of the day, though, I was still a kid too. Kids were supposed to have the rest of their life to grow and change. That was the point of life… Right? To learn and grow? To become as close as you possible could to being a perfect human being? This experience that every person deserved to have was being robbed of me and twenty-four others. The realization was heart breaking.

However, I also found strength in it. Slowly, my tears dried as I thought about my family. I thought about Nathan and Ophelia. I thought about all the strength I had seen in so many people like them. Even after all the things I had done, there were still people that wanted me home safe. There were still people that valued me and thought that _I _could change. They thought I could come home and be that better person I so longed to be.

And if they believed in me, then I had a duty to honor them.

* * *

><p><strong>Capitol:<strong>

**President Raven's POV:**

I mindlessly swirled my wine as I gazed out the window of my office. It was my favorite time of the night. The sun was long gone and the city's lights were at their brightest. Everyone was out and about, carelessly partying away. There was something calming about knowing they were able to do this simply because I let them. With a flick of the wrist, I could cut the power and ruin their nightly escapades.

"Madame President, Lavender is on her way up."

A soft, sweet voice emanated from the speaker. I clicked a button with the toe of my boot and replied, "Thank you, Lopunny. Send her right in. I had other plans for tonight and I would like to get to them as soon as possible."

"Yes, Madame President."

I wondered why Lavender demanded to meet with me so suddenly. She was never one to request some sort of urgent meeting. To my dislike, she was more inclined to just show up without any notice and blab about whatever was on her mind at that moment. What was even more of a surprise was the fact that she even left her station during the Games. Usually tearing her away from there was like taking away a child's precious toy or blanket. It was filled with meltdowns and tantrums.

I heard the door being forcefully pushed open. I spun around just in time to see two men each dump a large, black bag. Both bags slumped to the floor lifelessly and awkwardly. Lavender stood between them and motioned for the men to leave.

"You aren't watching the games?" Lavender asked with a small look of confusion on her face.

"I have someone who automatically turns it on if there is anything interesting happening. I'm not one to waste my time watching people eat and shit themselves," I casually responded as I took another sip of my wine, "So what brings you here?"

Lavender dropped her suitcase and leaned down. She placed both her hands on the bags and undid their flaps. With a dramatic flourish, she opened them. Out drooped two heads. Ice sprinkled their colorful hair and a clear, sludge-like liquid seeped onto my carpet.

"I just sent that out of for cleaning a few days ago," I clucked in disapproval.

"Do you recognize them?" Lavender asked as she grabbed them both by the hair and raised their dead faces to meet mine.

I nodded as I attempted to hide my slight surprise. The woman was Glacial Glasise. At least, that was her current name. She was a wealthy heiress who constantly changed her name to fit whatever style she was currently sporting. Recently she had been going for an icy, diamond look. This most likely had to do with our last victor, Rouge Lockett. The man, the one who caused more surprise, was Regulus Pine. He was a technician who had been working for the Capitol for many years. He coded and controlled our entire power grid. I had worked closely with him on numerous occasions.

"What did these lucky citizens do to deserve a death by your hands?" I asked.

"They were committing treason and planning a rebellion."

"Oh please," I laughed with relief, "I've had to quash two different groups in the past week. Why do you think I had to get the carpet cleaned? Was that really all?"

"This was different," Lavender stated.

"I'll admit it is disappointing someone so close to my office was against us, but I don't think that demands an urgent meeting," I chuckled as I waved her away, "Now if you will dispose of those bodies, I will be so grateful."

"Just these two bodies, or would you like me to take care of the Victors and the other people from the Districts and Capitol as well?"

I froze completely and my smirk immediately disappeared. I set my wine glass down gently and folded my hands on my desk.

I stared right into Lavender's eyes and spoke, "You have my attention. Details, now."

Lavender laughed humorlessly as she said, "What details? Regulus was a technician and _coder_. All of the identities of his coconspirators are safely guarded. All I can tell is you is that people from every step of life were in on it. Men from the Districts and women from the Capitol were discussing how to take us down! Victors were leading the charge with the intent of destroying you. For the first time in history, they were all banding together. _That_ is why I needed an 'urgent' meeting with you, Madame President."

"It's over," I stated, "You stopped their plan and caught a few of the traitors. What else is there to talk about if you know nothing else?"

"Yes, I stopped this plan," Lavender hissed, "You're welcome, by the way! But what about the next plan? Don't you get it! They won't stop here. If they're all conspiring together, they aren't scared of us anymore."

"Then what do you exactly suggest we do," I growled, losing my cool.

For the first time in many years, I felt insecure. I had to force my body not to shake. Never, during my reign, had the Victors rebelled against me. I had made it clear what the consequences could be. Not only were they defying me, but they were roping in countless citizens from both the Capitol and the Districts from right under our noses? How was this possible?

"This," Lavender smiled as she opened her suitcase.

She pulled out a file and tossed it onto my desk. I looked at her cautiously before I opened it. I scanned through the portfolio. As I read each sentence after sentence, my heart began to beat abnormally fast.

"Are you crazy," I shrieked, losing complete control, "_This_ will cause full blowout! We will have a rebellion on our hands within minutes!"

"No we won't!" Lavender argued as I threw it back at her, "They're all too comfortable! The same thing has happened _time_ and _time_ again for centuries! We have to show them that none of them are in control! At the end of the day, _you_ are the one who has the power. If they dare defy you, then _no one_ wins!"

I shook my head as I tried to sort my thoughts. It felt like, for the first time in my life, someone had pulled the rug out from under me. It was as if I was falling and had no control over where I would land.

"You have to take back the control," Lavender whispered, "You have to show them that there are no guarantees. That death can take anyone and everyone as long as you want it to."

"Everyone will explode," I argued quietly, "This has never happened before."

"Perhaps, but what other choice do you have? Wait for them all to join the rebel's side and attack you? Do you really want to give the citizens of Panem that kind of power of you?"

With her last words, I knew she was right. If I waited and did nothing, I would lose my power for sure. There would not only be no more Games, but there would be no more _me._ All of the things I had done in my life would be for nothing. I had to take a calculated risk… A risk that, if guided by my steady hand, could only bring me more control.

"Fine," I barked as I sat back down in my chair, "we'll do this plan, but on one condition. You find the leaders behind this and bring them in."

"But I told you-" she argued.

"I don't care how you find out," I snarled, "But I will not do something this precarious knowing that there is a group of ringleaders ready to corral the souls lost in the chaos. You either bring them here to me, or we don't do this."

"All… All right, Madame President," Lavender agreed as she shuffled to pick up her scattered papers.

"Oh, and Lavender?"

She looked up at me and I saw a small glimpse of vulnerability. It was as if I was a teacher who just told her student her project was useless. It would be cute if I wasn't so tense. I grasped my glass of wine and spun back to the window.

I raised the glass to my lips and murmured, "Do hurry. You don't have much time. The Games _are_ almost over."

* * *

><p><strong>So I hope I fulfilled your needs of action and suspense this chapter! Quite a lot happened and I am very, very excited to see how all of you react and what your ideas are! Things are definitely reaching their climax and, at this point, it could end in many different ways...<strong>

**I'll see you later,**

**Europa**


	56. Day Sixteen: Part One: The Collapse

**Day Sixteen: **

**Part One: The Collapse**

**District Nine:**

**Lorie's POV:**

I stumbled into the suite, laughing as I knocked over a vase. It shattered into a million sparking piece on the clean floor.

"Oops," I giggled as I picked up one of the colorful flowers and placed it in my hair.

I walked into the large living room and sighed, "Oh! How I love that we live like royalty!"

"It took you long enough," Memory grumbled as she stared out the window at the night sky.

"This better be _important_," I slurred, "I was talking to a very _important_ lady about… very… _important_ things."

"Are you seriously completely wasted," Memory scoffed as she glared at me.

"My tributes are dead," I cheered as I threw my hands up in the air, "I can drink as much as I want to for eleven more months!"

"Oh God," Memory rolled her eyes as she began to pace.

"What important thing were you and this woman talking about?" I heard Ophelia whisper from the couch.

"Only the essence of life itself," I cried as I flung myself onto the footrest, "Discounts on beautiful, gorgeous _shoes_!"

"Why you ever even talk to this slush is a mystery to me," Memory groaned.

"Just cut to the chase," I sighed as I fiddled with my flower, "Ophelia, why are we here? It's early in the morning and the sun isn't even rising yet. Couldn't this have waited until…? I don't know when."

"No, it couldn't," Ophelia replied, "I needed you both to come to my apartments… right here and right now."

"I don't know what else we have to talk about," Memory grumbled, "If it is involving… you know…. We don't have control over it anymore. If it isn't about that, then being in the Control Room is far more important than anything else you have to tell us. _Both_ of our tributes are still in there, Ophelia."

"Not mine!" I chirped as I rolled off the piece of furniture and onto the floor.

"Can you try _not_ acting like a five year old?"

"Can you try _not_ acting like you haven't gotten laid in years," I mocked as I rolled around on the plush carpet. The soft fibers caressed my face and I sighed. I could just drift off into a perfect slumber…

"Both of you stop it!" Ophelia cried.

Her outburst caught my full attention. Her tone sounded desperate. She was _always _put together and the woman now standing in front of me… Her hair was pristine and her clothes were as fancy as you could get… Yet, I could see lines of worry etched across her face. She was losing her cool, and I had no idea why.

"What is it?" I asked, sobering up almost completely.

Ophelia began to wring her hands and stepped to the large glass window.

"When my children were little, they used to argue all the time. They were constantly bickering about 'who' did 'what' better. They always would ask me about who was right. They used to drive me _crazy._ In fact, there were times I fantasized about grabbing their heads and bonking their skulls together, effectively knocking them both unconscious."

Ophelia turned and smiled at us, "Of course, I never did. The reason why was because I loved them. I adored them in every way and worshiped the ground they walked on. I don't know if either of you have ever felt something so strong, but you can never forget it. That feeling is so tangible that you can bring it up at any moment you choose."

She paced to her left and smiled even wider, "I think of both of you like that. I know I'm only a handful of decades older than you, but I think of you similarly to how I think of my children. I want you to be happy, healthy, and protected… Even if you both drive me up the walls sometimes."

"Ophelia, _what_ is going on?" I asked again, this time glancing at Memory. The usual sourpuss expression was dissipated from Memory's face. She appeared vulnerable… open just like a small child. In that vulnerability I could see multiple things… One of them being the same fear I was feeling.

"However, I also can't help but think of every other person still alive in Panem. I think of all the mothers and father who have this intense devotion inside them. I think of the lovers who would rather die than live another hour without their other half. I think about all the happiness that is being stripped away from everyone… And I feel responsible for them. I feel that if I can make a difference and even protect one of them, I've done something worthwhile."

I noticed the sun beginning to cast a faint light through the sky. It was a deep purple that made Ophelia almost dazzle. In that moment, she could have been a celestial being.

_God, I am completely wasted_.

"You both once told me that this rebellion was important to you... That you would do anything to see it succeed."

Shouts met my ears. I heard loud pounding beating on the door I had entered. I scrambled to my feet and looked towards it.

"A few hours ago I was given a choice… A choice that would change _everything_. I made the decision I thought was best for everyone as a whole… I pray that you truly meant what you said regarding the rebellion. Otherwise, I ask for your forgiveness."

Suddenly the door was beat in. Peacekeepers flooded the room. Some raised their batons while others raised guns. All of them began to shout orders that jumbled together when they met my ears. I stumbled backwards and grappled for anything. My hand met another and I looked to my right. Memory was looking at me with the same fright I was feeling. She squeezed my hand and I reached for Ophelia's.

She grabbed mine gratefully and whispered, "It's been a pleasure knowing you."

* * *

><p><strong>District Five:<strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

"Get up," someone commanded.

I blinked my eyes furiously as I tried to clear the fog of sleep. I shuffled away and tried to see who was standing above me. Terror seized me as I thought that this was the end. A tribute had found me and now I was going to die. Then, as my eyes became accustomed to the light, I realized if this was the case they would have just killed me in my sleep. Finally, my eyes adjusted and I gasped in shock.

Standing in front of me was the girl from District Thirteen.

"Come on, we don't have all day," she sighed as she rolled her eyes.

I stood up in the small cupboard and grabbed my hammer. She looked at me in contempt and I tried not to stare too openly. She had the same aggressive stance she had always had. She was even tugging at her tight dress in discomfort, which was something vividly I remembered her do during her interviews.

"Am I _really_ going to have to knock you out and drag you there myself," she threatened.

I shook my head and shuffled out of my hiding place. She rolled her eyes as I stumbled slightly because of the lingering ache of not moving for so long. She marched ahead without another glance. I raced to catch up to her as I wiped the sweat from my palms. There was no way she was still alive… it was just another Gamemakers trick. The truly frightening thing was that they were intervening. They were forcing something to happen, which meant one of two things. Either the Gamemakers were bored or the Capitol was. One meant a 'fun' little event and the other…. It usually meant the end of the Games.

"I can't go," I gasped involuntarily.

She spun around and spat, "What the hell did you just say?"

"If I go with you, I'm dead anyways. Whoever you're pitting me against will kill me in seconds. I don't have a fighting chance unless… unless things are in my favor."

"This is the Hunger Games," she growled as she grabbed my arm roughly, "Nothing is in anyone's favor. Believe me I'd know. I'm _dead_, remember?"

I nodded, suddenly too petrified to utter any words. If this was the end, I had no chance. The Gamemakers were _forcing _me out of hiding. No matter what I did, I was going to end up just like all the other tributes. Nothing counted at this point. This was… I was…

"If you're looking for some sympathy for your 'plight'," she grumbled, "You're talking to the wrong person."

"You're a mutt," I muttered, "You have to be. You can't be real."

"Wow, no shit. You're from District Five, I thought that meant you had to be smart," she groaned, "Maybe everyone else will play this game. 'What? Mutt? No, I've been brought back from the dead! Ooh spooky!' Well, not me. I was designed and programmed to look and act exactly like Ayla. I even have all of her memories! For all intents and purposes, I am her and, you know what? I'm _pissed_! Ayla's dead and I'm going to be decommissioned for all eternity after only being alive for a couple of hours. Do you understand how _aggravating_ that is!"

"Don't worry, I'm going to end up being decommissioned too," I murmured darkly.

She glared at me as she hissed, "At least you have a chance, even if it is slight. Don't waste it, shitface."

Her words hit home and I tried to change my state of mind. It wasn't over until I was dead. If there was even the slightest chance, I had to keep fighting. I couldn't give up at this point.

With her final comment ending, she threw open two large doors and shoved me into the room. Before I could even observe my surroundings, I was greeted by the hollow faces of all my fellow tributes. They surrounded the room as if they were marble statues. I could pick out Jordana's hulking from as well as the girl from District Eleven's lithe one. My eyes zoned in on Winnifred and how scarily accurate her dazed expression was. Gracefully, Ruby floated down from the ceiling.

"I decided to throw a little ball," she smiled, "It is _much_ more sophisticated than a tea party."

"Because sophistication really matters in this hell hole," Ayla barked.

"Behave!" Ruby shouted.

Suddenly, Ayla went stiff. All emotion was drained from her face and she glided to the side of the room. She joined her place next to her district partner and it was as if that fiery girl I had met a few minutes ago had completely disappeared. She was now just a puppet just like the other dead tributes.

"Keep that conversation you two had to yourself," Ruby whispered in my ear, "Unless you would like to join her. I already killed one tribute. Two wouldn't be that hard."

I gulped and nodded vigorously. She smiled beautifully and pointed to a column.

"Good. Now go stand there like an obedient little toy."

As I moved to the spot she indicated, the doors were thrown open again. In walked Cami as if she was in complete control. I cringed slightly once I saw what a horrible state she was in. At this point, she barely looked human. She resembled something that crawled right out of a child's nightmare… Something mutilated and mangled.

"I'm so glad you could join us," Ruby motioned with a flourish of her arms, "I thought a small dance would cheer everyone up."

"Oh, I see," Cami smiled, as if she wasn't surprised or fazed by any of this, "I'm just so excited to get to the real point of this event. I have a feeling this dance might change into something else."

Ruby frowned as she said, "You ruined my tea party. I'd advise not making that mistake again."

"I'll take that into consideration," Cami smirked as the boy from District Eleven led her away.

The next person to enter, sometime later, was Charlotte. She walked in with a look that was a mixture of rage, fear, and grief. She took one look at Cami and spat on the floor. Cami began to charge forward but Ruby raised her hand. Cami went flying back and was splayed flat against the column.

"Nice face," Cami hollered through gritted teeth.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and followed her small district partner to her spot. As she got closer, I could tell her nose was obviously broken. It looked like it hurt like hell and I archived that detail for later use. It might be the one thing that stood between me and death…

Ruth entered last. She was visibly shaking, but I couldn't tell exactly why. Valhalla strode in front of her with an expression of pure triumph. She acted like she was just told she had won the actual Hunger Games. Without saying a word or looking anywhere, she shuffled to where Valhalla directed her.

"Thank you all for attending," Ruby flourished as if she was talking to a nation of people, "I am so happy to be in _such_ pleasant company. I've been planning this event for _some time_. Some may even say it felt like it was years in the making!"

Then, with a flick of her wrist, the room suddenly transformed. Small orbs of lights of yellow, blue, and green appeared out of nowhere and they floated throughout the air. The broken chandelier lying uselessly on the floor rose to the ceiling and was magically fixed. The large room suddenly smelled like an array of flowers instead of must and death. It was like we were being transported to a different time… A better time.

Masked people glided into the room with silver trays laden with food. Several of them were carrying instruments and, within seconds, sweet music began to fill the air.

"Feel free to mingle," Ruby chimed, "Just don't do anything ill-mannered. The consequences will be… excruciating, to say the least."

I stepped away from the column. I felt completely overwhelmed. This was all just so… odd. It was as if I was suddenly back in the Capitol. I had no idea how I should act or what I should do. Should I attempt to kill one of the remaining tributes? Should I cling to the walls and try to disappear from existence? Maybe I should strike up a conversation with Charlotte about cute boys or with Cami about shoes. It was all so surreal.

My eyes darted over to Cami and I saw her marching towards the center of the room. I grabbed some sort of meat from a tray and began to head towards her. When I finally reached her, I saw she was gripping her sword tightly.

"I don't know what kind of bullshit the Gamemakers are pulling," she yelled, "But this is the Final Four. If you think that I'm letting any of you get away, you are horribly mistaken."

"I got away once, I could do it again," Charlotte replied as she munched on some delicacy.

"You sound really tough. Where was that yesterday when I nearly killed you?"

"_Nearly_ being the defining word," Charlotte spat.

"I can't wait to slice your head off and never have to hear a single word from you again!"

Suddenly chills began to run down my spine as I felt a delicate hand on my shoulder.

Bell-like laughter rang through the room as someone clucked, "Now, now children. This is supposed to be pleasurable."

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Cami's POV:**

My head whipped to my left and saw Ruby standing behind the District Five rat. She had an amiable expression on her face, but I could see hints of malice hidden behind it.

"Perhaps you will all loosen up after a dance."

She clapped her hands and everyone began to shift. The masked people moved to the edge of the room while the dead tributes moved towards the center. I rolled my eyes as they began to pair up, one by one. This was just _stupid_! The Hunger Games weren't about tea parties, balls, and fine dining! The last four tributes were all in one place! We were supposed to be slaughtering each other! This stupid, control-freak muttation was just wasting everyone's time!

Suddenly, the other District Five rat grabbed the boy's hands and began to dance with him. His face lost what little color he had as he disappeared into the crowd. I looked to my right as saw Ruth's district partner approach her as well. She shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands. I laughed as he pried her hands away from her face and dragged her towards the center of the room. Next to make their move was the girl from ten's ally. He approached her and she just shook her head. Even though she was putting up a strong front, she I could see how shaken she was by everything. She was terrified now that she didn't have her stupid pet. My laughter continued to escalate when he caressed her face lightly and she stumbled backwards. Apollo and Asita glided right in front of me, almost running me over.

I felt a small tap on my shoulder and rolled my eyes. I spun around, fully knowing which mutt the Gamemakers would send to dance with me.

"Hello Lucian," I smiled falsely as I grabbed both his hands.

He led me further out onto the dance floor and we began to waltz. Even though I was never invited to any of the fancy dances, I still knew how to. You were practically born in District One knowing how to waltz. His expression was blank and he didn't say anything. So far none of the replicas of the dead tributes were talking to me. I managed to hear a snippet of Ruth's small conversation with Valhalla. It seemed to involve Ruth being taken on a major guilt trip and being completely torn to shreds. I supposed the Gamemakers didn't want to waste any of their charades on me. They knew it didn't affect me in the slightest.

"How's being dead been?" I jokingly asked.

Lucian didn't respond and, instead, gazed right over my head.

A slight flicker of annoyance ran through me when I heard Ruth's district partner murmuring things to her. I looked to my right and saw the dancing duo were just a few feet from my right. Her face was blocked from my view by a curtain of caramel hair. She was slightly slouched and I longed to see the destroyed look on her face.

"You don't seem to have much to say," I interrupted, "Where did the Almighty Ruth go? Did she take a vacation or something?"

Ruth refused to look at me, and I huffed in frustration. I didn't want to play along with this whole farce. I wasn't used to being ignored, and I wasn't going to start now.

I pushed Lucian away and walked straight to Ruth. I grabbed her by the back of her hair and forced her to look at me. When I looked in her eyes, I was shocked when I didn't see the broken person like I thought I would. All I saw was resolute strength and unbreakable determination.

"I can't wait to kill you too," I growled with sudden fury as I drew my sword from my side.

"You _cannot_ be serious," someone shrieked.

The music came to a screeching halt. Every single thing in the room stopped moving, including the floating lights. The mutts slowly began to clear out as Ruby marched to the center of the dance floor.

"You," she pointed her finger at me, "Are _not_ ruining this for me again."

"And you," I countered, "are not ruining these games. If I'm going to win this then I'm going to win this right. No stupid events! None of _your_ stupid games! Just butt out so we can get to the _real _reason why we were all dragged here; for one final battle."

"Fine," Ruby screamed, "You want to fight, _fine_! All I've ever done is try to make all of _your_ miserable, wretched lives a teeny, tiny bit better! I've given you food, water, and _fun!_ Do you know how many other people would have killed for this kindness! Too many to count but not you rotten bunch! All you want to do is fight and kill!"

"This isn't about _fun_," I argued, "I'm so _done_! If I'm going to have 'fun', I'd rather do that from home! You know, after I win this and you cease to exist!"

The last word rang through the air. The silence was so thick in their air I felt as though I could feel it oozing into my pours. Ruby stood in front of me as she trembled with pure hatred and rage.

In a voice full of venom she whispered, "You'll get your fight, Cami. All of you will!"

A loud boom broke the silence and I covered my ears in pain. She rose into the air and screeched, "You won't be good little toys? Fine. If you won't play my game then _no one wins._"

As she floated, plumes of dark fumes began to emit from her. Suddenly, the room around us began to change. The small lights began to droop and change to a poisonous purple. The walls appeared to be dripping and the floor sagged under me. All of the mutts began to change as well. Some of their skin was melting while other's hair fell out. Someone broke out into an insane shriek of cackles and I realized it was Valhalla. I could see Asita smirking cruelly as she slowly peeled her scalp away. Even the innocent boy from District Ten was leering at us as he pulled his innards out onto the floor.

"I'm going to kill each one of you: Cami, Admyer, Charlotte, and Ruth. I'm going to kill you all," Ruby spoke in a deep voice that didn't belong to her.

I backed up, suddenly horrified. They couldn't kill us all! That wasn't how the games worked! This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. We… The tributes were supposed to fight each other. The strongest came out on top… I _was_ strongest! I was supposed to win and live on!

I glimpsed around frantically. Everyone was gazing at Ruby with horror. Admyer was shivering greatly and Charlotte had fallen to the ground. I looked down at myself and, with embarrassment, realized I had slightly wet myself. Ruth was the only one who seemed to be standing firm. She grabbed her double sided sword from behind her back and held it forward.

"You aren't killing _any_ of us."

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

I looked to my left and saw a sight I never thought I would see. Cami, the fearless unstoppable force, looked defeated. She was frozen in fear and seemed spellbound by the changing surroundings. The other two, Charlotte and Admyer, both were quivering uncontrollably.

"Come on," I yelled, "Are you really going to let her kill us? This happened once before with Lucy and you know what we did? We fought for our lives! This is no different than if we were fighting each other! Do you really want to die!"

I pushed my own fear so deep that it was almost non-existent. I snuffed any ember that was keeping it alive and felt it disappear. Admyer was the first one to look at me and nod. He grabbed his hammer and backed up towards me. Charlotte snapped out of her fright when he stepped over her. She gazed at me with tears in her eyes and unsteadily grabbed some rope that was looped around her waist. She also pulled out a knife and scrambled to us. The mutts slowly began to converge on us. They all took deliberate steps, one by one, towards us.

"Cami!" I screamed as they got closer.

She looked at me and I could tell she was beyond traumatized. This was something she never even knew could happen to her. I knew the reason she always defied the mutts and the Gamemakers is because she believed they wouldn't kill her. She thought her only threat was us, the tributes. Now that her way of thinking was shattered, she couldn't seem to gather the pieces and glue them back together. As much as I wouldn't mind her getting ripped apart by these mutts, we needed her. She got us into this mess and she was probably the only one who could get us out. She could take down five of these mutts before each of us could kill one.

She robotically raised her sword into a proper position and moved towards us. I knew I could easily kill all three of my competitors right here and now, but I had a sinking feeling that doing so wouldn't stop these mutts. Right now, it was all or nothing…. Fight together or die together.

"Back to back," I barked, knowing we couldn't have an exposed side.

All of us faced a different direction and focused on what was in front of us. Slowly converging on top of me was Devon, Ayla, and Alexei. Of course these would be the three leading the charge towards me. The Gamemakers were trying to break me. They had been trying to break me specifically for _days _because they saw me as the weakest link. If anyone would crack, it would be me. What they didn't realize is that, even if they did shake me, they couldn't break me.

All they could do was make me stronger.

I let out a yell of pure wrath as I thrusted forward. My sword immediately impaled Alexei, but he continued to reach for me. I disconnected my sword and turned it into two. While one sword was inside of him, I used the other to slice into his neck. I continued to hack into it until his head came completely off. Thankfully, the mutt's didn't seem to bleed. It was as if they were drained of all their blood.

I felt a strong grip on my arm as Ayla hissed, "That seemed easy for you. Maybe it's because you've done that before?"

I yelled in response and kneed her in the stomach. I wrenched both of my swords out from Alexei's corpse and used her body as their new sheath. She cackled lightly as I stabbed her in my frenzy. Soon, I felt several other hands on me. I elbowed the boy from District Three in the face and kicked Devon in the shin. I rammed one sword through Ayla's skull and used the other to begin killing the fallen boy from three. As I tried to finish him off, I felt strong arms surround my torso and pick me up. I kicked and screamed as Devon disarmed me and the mutt holding me threw me across the room.

I looked up and saw that it was Leith who had managed to fight his way to my back. I quickly scanned for the other living tributes and assessed their situations. Cami was currently taking on eight mutts while Charlotte was attempting to distract and divert attention. Admyer was wrestling on the ground with Charlotte's old ally and appeared to be losing the fight.

Leith and Devon each grabbed a part of my sword and approached me. I stood up and blew my hair out of my face. I raised my fists and snarled. If they thought I was defenseless they were _sorely_ mistaken. I rushed forward and feinted to the left. Leith slashed into the empty air and I punched him in his windpipe. I had no idea if mutts even needed to breathe, but he flinched. I took this moment to elbow him in the sternum and then knee him in the stomach. Now that he was bent over, I kneed him in the head and grabbed his arm. I swiftly flipped him onto the ground and spun around. I managed to catch Devon's arm right as he sliced into my right side. I gritted my teeth and twisted his wrist. I heard a loud crack and knew it was broken.

He made no noise of pain and attempted to punch me with his other hand. I grabbed it and did the same. With both hands hanging uselessly in the air, I grabbed the sword from the ground. I wiped my blood off and closed my eyes. I said a swift prayer and readied myself. Then, I opened my eyes and stabbed Devon right in the heart. I could feel my own heart splintering, even though I knew this wasn't really him. I pushed my sword in farther and looked into his eyes as his life faded away.

Once he was dead, I turned back around and stabbed the recovering Leith. I continued to stab him until I knew for sure he wasn't going to get back up. I collected the other half of my double sided sword and connected them.

I charged forward to Admyer, who was now on the floor being beaten by two mutts. I rammed my sword into his district partner's neck and watched her fall right on top of him. I turned to the boy from eleven and realized he was using his own arm to beat Admyer. I shoved him over easily and watched as he toppled to the ground. I pulled the freshly bruised and bloodied Admyer to his feet. As Ruby pulsated in the air, I knew what I had to do.

An idea popped into my head and I yelled, "I need you to distract the mutts that are attacking Charlotte. I need her help."

Admyer nodded and we raced over to her. I felt a twinge of guilt when I thought of Cami still surrounded by mutts. I quickly destroyed that feeling. Admyer used his hammer to crack open the girl from seven's skull. I grabbed Charlotte by the wrist and pointed to Ruby.

"I need you to get her down here."

"What!"

"She's controlling all of this," I motioned wildly, "If we kill her, this is over."

Charlotte nodded and began to spin her lasso. I swiftly stepped behind her and stabbed the charging Apollo. He fell to the ground and tried to grab my leg. I stepped on his arm and sliced it off. He howled in rage and I just continued to savagely slice off limbs until he was defenseless.

Suddenly, I felt an arm around my throat and my face was covered with something. I thrashed about, unable to breathe. Finally, I managed to shake its grip and I stumbled forward. The object covering my face fell to the ground and my stomach did several flips. It was a scalp.

I spun around to see a horrifyingly disfigured Asita as she smiled at me.

"It was worth a shot."

Before I could get to her, she dashed away and hopped over several different bodies. Even in mutt form she put herself above everyone and everything else.

"Got her!" Charlotte screamed.

I turned to see Charlotte's rope looped around Ruby's foot. Charlotte and Admyer both began pulling her down. Ruby thrashed and screeched. Windows shattered, the room shook, and the ceiling began to crumble. I glanced over at Cami and saw she was surrounded by fallen mutts. She was down to three now. I was in awe and shock at what a force she was. She was the kind of Career they all hoped and trained to be. Not just a killing machine, but a warrior with skill, speed, and wit.

I turned back to the situation in front of me and raced forward. Ruby was now in reach. I raised my sword and pounced. My sword cut straight through her pelvis. She screamed in pain as I put all of my weight on my sword and pulled her down with me. I hit the ground, but Ruby still managed to hover a foot above it.

"If this is my grave, I will bury all of you with me!"

My eyes widened as her scream reached a louder crescendo and everything began to tremor even harder.

"The mansion is collapsing!" I yelled.

I yanked my sword out of her and she fell to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her body and let a short, high-pitched shriek. This time a wave of energy emitted from her like a crashing tsunami. In milliseconds, I found myself being lifted off my feet and flying backwards.

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

I watched Ruth soar through the air and I braced myself. A force hit me and knocked me backwards. I slid across the floor and collided with Davis' corpse. I ignored the part of me that wanted to scream and then vomit. I stood up and tried to regain my balance. The entire room was shaking horribly and things were falling all around us. Chunks of the ceiling were crushing bodies and one almost hit the recuperating Ruth. I glanced around not knowing what to do. Where would you go when the entire arena was collapsing!

Suddenly, I realized Cami was _gone_. Sometime during the fight, she had completely left. Ruth, clutching her side, hobbled out the door. They both were heading somewhere.

"Think Charlotte," I yelled to myself, "Think for the first time in your damn life! Where the _hell_ would you go!"

Admyer pushed past me and it was as if some of his intelligence rubbed off on me in that moment.

The underground laboratory.

If this entire mansion was caving in the only place we could go was back down... Back to the place where it all began.

I quickly wrapped my rope around my waist and secured my other weapons. I jumped over a piece of rubble and sprinted to catch back up to Admyer. I had to beat him. If I beat him there, in my mind, I lived longer. I wouldn't be crushed to death. I would still have a fighting chance.

I raced out the door and pushed past _him_ this time. I darted to the left and cursed aloud. The main entrance to the basement was blocked by fallen rubble. I quickly remembered a way to the cellar from the kitchen and sprinted off in that direction. I raced down the hallway and tried to remember the best way to the kitchen. I could hear Admyer behind me, which told me he had the same idea. As I neared a corner, I found myself being rammed into the wall. His bony shoulder imbedded itself in my back and I cried out in pain as the corner was crushed into my chest.

Obviously all thoughts and acts of teamwork were gone. Just as all of us had easily slipped into it to save our lives, we were all easily able to forget it ever happened. Cami ditched us as soon as she could, Ruth left without a second glance, and Admyer was willing to leave me in the dust.

"Two can play at that game," I murmured as I sprinted forward.

As we reached the kitchen, he took a wrong turn. I raced around the counter and made my way to the left. I saw him out of the corner of my eye heading back towards me. I quickly grabbed the oven door and slammed it open. Admyer stumbled over it and I grabbed metal canister that was lying on the counter. I smashed it into his head and then jogged forward. As I stepped into the dark, dank pantry, I tried to feel my way over the discarded barrels. I leapt over a few more and found the door to the cellar. It was blocked a fallen wooden rack and I tried to pull it back. I pulled as hard as I could, but it was wedged on something I couldn't see.

Suddenly, Admyer was at my side and we both began to pull. After a minute, we managed to wrench it away from the door far enough to slip in. Right as I he slipped in, the room began to quiver and we both fell to the ground. I crawled forward and squeezed myself into the stairway. I yelled in sudden pain as I felt the rack land on my foot. I desperately pulled at my leg, but it wouldn't budge. I looked back and our eyes met. Then, with a small nod, he turned and descended the stairs. I screamed in frustration as I twisted my stuck foot. I wasn't going to die! Not like this! Not at all!

With one final twist, I felt something pull. My foot popped out, and I began to roll down the stairs. I yelled in pain as every part of my body banged against the stairs and stone wall. When I reached the bottom of the dark cellar, I landed with a solid thud. I pulled myself to my feet and tested my foot. It hurt, but I could still jog on it. I glanced to my right just in time to see Admyer turn the corner. I began to jog as fast as I could down the corridor. I continued to follow the narrow passageway as I stepped over fallen barrels and crates. The light was dim and it was hard to make out anything except for shapes and movement. Everything around me continued to tremor and I heard a loud crack. As I raced forward, I saw a section of the ceiling cave in. Admyer yelped in surprise and jumped back in the nick of time. As he raced back, our gazes met again. I could see the surprise etched on his face as he took a different route down another hallway.

Fueled by determination and anger, I pushed myself to run even faster. I forced myself to limit I didn't even know I could reach as I turned the corner. I slowly began to gain on Admyer as we worked our way through this twisted maze. All parts of this led to those large doors that were the entrance to the underground laboratory. I just had to find a corridor that wasn't blocked. More importantly, I had to hope that, sometime in the past, the Gamemakers had opened that large door that closed behind us all those days ago. Whether it was to retrieve the bodies or do some maintenance, I had to pray they left it open. Otherwise, whoever made it down there (whether it was just one or four) would be crushed. These past two weeks would be for nothing and no one would win.

As I got even closer to the panting Admyer, I knew I had an opportunity; an opportunity to make sure one less person made it to safety. Guilt filled me, but I squashed it. He had left me to die once already.

As my mother would say, it was only polite to return the favor.

Without a second thought, I undid my rope from my waist and began to spin it. Before he could turn another corner, I sent it shooting through the air. It wrapped loosely around his raised leg in mid-step and I pulled. The rope quickly gripped his leg snuggly like a constrictor right before it killed its prey. With one final, firm pull I sent him floundering to the ground. At the same time, the wooden beams above us began to tremble and bend. Another tunnel was about to collapse. We both screamed as the dim lighting completely vanished and everything collapsed around us.

* * *

><p><strong>As you can see, we are near the end of the Games. What happened to our rebellious Victors? Did Charlotte or Admyer survive? Did both of them die? What about Cami and Ruth?<strong>

**You'll just have to wait until next chapter, my lovelies.**

**With all the love in the world,**

**Europa**


	57. Day Sixteen: Part Two: Escape

**Day Sixteen:**

**Part Two: Escape**

**District Five:**

**Memory's POV:**

The cold gun was pressed deeper into my spine. Being treated like a criminal was something I wasn't used to. Before the Hunger Games, I never got into serious trouble. Even when I opened my mouth and said something I shouldn't have, I could always think my way out of it. As we rode up the elevator, I knew there was no way any of us were getting out of this. I looked over at Lorie and Ophelia. Lorie surprisingly was able to keep a firm, defiant look on her face. Ophelia projected a cool and calm front. She acted as if she was made out of titanium; unbreakable and unbendable. With this in mind, I tried to fix a neutral expression on my face as best I could.

_A few hours ago I was given a choice… A choice that would change everything_

Ophelia's words echoed in my mind. Even before we plotted our rebellion I had trusted her for years. She was a woman I always sought advice and friendship from. This wasn't the moment when I was going to stop giving her that trust. Ophelia was a clever woman, far more brilliant than me. If she was given a choice, I full heartedly believed she chose the best thing. No matter what it meant for the rest of us, she chose what she believed was right for the good of _everyone_.

As the doors opened, the Peacekeepers prodded us forward. We marched through a hallway I had never been in before. In fact, I had never even been in this building, but I knew it well. This was the building where the President and her personal employees worked. This is where the Capitol's government made the decisions that affected all of Panem. _This_ was the headquarters of the people we had been planning on taking down.

We marched through the hallway with our hands cuffed firmly behind our backs. Not a single person even batted an eye. Not one employee even had the decency to look mildly surprised that three Victors were being held at gunpoint. I knew quickly that whatever happened in this building was never spoken of outside of it. It was most likely in your job description… Otherwise, you would end up just like every other person who defied the Capitol…

Dear Panem, please don't let us end up like them….

We finally reached two heavy looking doors that were adjacent to a large desk. A girl with large, curly brown hair was typing away at her computer. She briskly run her eyes up and down our bodies and spoke into her headset. Within seconds, the doors flew open and the Peacekeepers shoved us into the room. I was forced onto my knees and they checked one final time that the bonds were secure.

I looked up and saw a small, pale hand wave from behind a large, dark chair. Without a word, the Peacekeepers filed out. The door slammed shut behind us. I glanced around discreetly, surprised the others weren't here. Ethan, Bethy, and even Peach were nowhere in sight. I forced myself not to assume the worst. Slowly the chair spun around and the figure smiled at us cruelly.

"Now isn't this lovely? Very few people from the Districts ever enter my work office. This is such a treat, isn't it Lavender?"

President Raven looked behind us and I turned as well. Lavender was leaning casually against a display case as she sipped at some sort of drink.

"Yes, Madame President."

Before I could glare daggers at her, the President snapped her fingers. I turned my attention to her, knowing she wasn't one to ignore. I had only seen the President in person a handful of times. She liked to keep her distance. I believed she stayed away because it made her out to be this untouchable being… This 'monarch' that ruled over everything and was all-powerful.

As she stood up and walked around her desk, I realized how tiny she really was. In fact, I knew I was far taller than her because of when she presented me my crown after I had won my games. She had to make me lower myself to place it on my head. Lavender mulled around us and stood nearby the President. Even she appeared tall and lanky compared to our 'ruler'.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Raven sighed, "You, Ophelia, have been on my blacklist ever since your entertaining children died last year. If any Victor would lash out, of course it would be you."

She turned her gaze towards me and scoffed, "And Memory, my little fireball. Of course you would be swayed to 'fight for the underdogs'."

She turned on her heel and walked over to my left, "Now Lorie, you are the only small shock in this entire situation. I cannot fathom why you would ever try to pull such a stunt. The Capitol adores you and you've gotten everything you've ever wanted."

"Maybe I just got tired of sucking every man's dick if had a penny to send your way," Lorie retaliated.

Raven suddenly pulled back and backhanded Lorie.

"Don't _speak_ unless I ask you too."

She moved back to the center and glared at us all, "Do you see what 'rebelling' gets you? Nothing but trouble. Did you _really_ think that three Victors could band the Districts and the entire Capitol against me? Please don't tell me you're that delusional."

I glanced at Lavender quickly, immediately knitting details together. Raven thought we were the only rebels within the Victor's ranks. Lavender hadn't completely backstabbed us.

_I was given a choice_

My mind recreated the scenario in my head. I realized that Lavender consulted Ophelia. Something happened and a decision had to be made; to start a rebellion or give up. Ophelia chose what was best for everyone. She chose to rebel… And she brought along the people she _knew_ would give up everything to see that happen.

"Tell me, Ophelia, what exactly _were_ you hoping to accomplish?" Raven asked as she tapped her long nails on her glass desk.

"I was hoping to change something," Ophelia replied coolly, "I was hoping that, for the first time in centuries, _everyone_ could feel safe and happy. I wanted _all_ the citizens of Panem to start down the road of recovery."

Raven laughed mockingly as she ridiculed, "I don't understand why you silly people are so confused. You _are_ safe. So a handful of kids die once a year to insure that safety. In the scheme of things, it's worth it."

"That isn't safety," Ophelia replied, "That's captivity."

"I call it population control," Raven smirked wolfishly, "And you know what the ironic thing is? You did all this to 'save' lives… And now more people are going to die. All because of _you_."

She slinked behind her desk and withdrew something from her drawer. My heart began to beat faster as she hissed, "Lavender, I believe our dear Victors have seemed to crack under all the pressure they've been under during these recent games, don't you agree? They're having delusions and panic attacks. Even worse, they're deeply haunted by an obscene amount of paranoia. A nice, _long_ trip to the Asylum should do the trick…

"I fully agree with you," Lavender nodded as she turned towards the window.

My heart began to flutter as the President held her shining object in the light.

Raven frowned with fake sympathy as she pouted, "Hopefully they aren't too far gone that we can't save them."

With that final statement, she stepped forward, raised her pistol, and shot Ophelia at point blank range between the eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>District Twelve:<strong>

**Ruth's POV:**

Everything around me trembled as I reached a flight of marble stairs. I attempted to take a single, steady step down them, but I was thrown off balance by the jarring motion. As I tumbled wildly down the rigid stairs, they prodded into me like hot pokers. I yelled in agony as one jabbed harshly into my bleeding side. I rolled across the ground and it felt like the entire world was in constant motion. I suddenly knew how pieces of clothing felt in the Capitolite's fancy washing devices. It was this endless swirl of motion and spinning that you simply couldn't come to grips with.

I managed to raise my head for a split second and spotted a figure huddled in the center of the room. Suddenly, I heard a deafening crack as several pipes burst. Another series of thunderous booms resounded through the air as boulders began to fall and tumbled around us. I heard an ear piercing screech as the figure rolled to the side, nearly avoiding being crushed to death. Unable to regain my footing, I simply somersaulted forward. My entire body screamed in protest, but I continued to roll as I attempted to put as much distance between the entrance and me. A large rock slammed into my back, throwing me to the left. I held onto a boulder and tried to pull myself to my feet. I shrieked as a slab of stone fell several feet in front of me. It shattered and broken shards slammed into me roughly.

I closed my eyes and started to pray. I buckled down and pressed myself as closely as I could to the boulder. As time went by, the tremors began to slow. It was barely noticeable, but eventually everything stopped. I opened my eyes and almost fell from a wave of dizziness. Even though I knew the tremors were over, the room continued to spin. I noticed my blade across the room and began to hobble towards it. I stumbled over both myself and the debris several times. I finally settled on crawling and reached it. As I grasped it thankfully, I began to use it as a crutch. I pushed myself to my feet and leaned against it heavily.

I looked across the cavern, waiting for the spinning and nausea to subside. The figure from earlier clenched her fists as she stood up. She raised her head and smiled.

"It looks like… it's just you… and me," she gasped as she struggled to regain her breath.

I shifted my gaze to where we had entered. The entrance to the mansion was completely caved in. Enormous boulders and slabs of marble sealed us in the cavern. The cavern itself was a disaster zone. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the floor as well as chunks of stone from the ceiling. Most of the copper pipes that ran along the walls were busted. Water cascaded slowly from some while others blew hot steam into the air.

"Did you hear a cannon fire?" I asked as I tried to recover as well.

"Yeah, I heard it about forty times. This entire arena has consisted of earsplitting sounds for the past ten minutes, but look around. Do you see them anywhere?"

I glanced around at the destruction and shook my head. Neither Charlotte nor Admyer were anywhere to be seen.

"This really is how it should be," Cami smiled, "We've been at each other's throats since training. It's only fair that you be my… my last target before I become the next Victor."

I laughed skeptically at her comment, "Cocky as ever I see. Where was this a little while ago when you couldn't even _move_ you were so scared?"

She frowned, "You're right, I was scared of a mutt with superpowers. But you? You don't scare me in the slightest. In fact, I can't wait to see you dead."

"Whatever Cami," I sighed, tired of fighting, as I raised my sword, "Let's just get this over with."

"Oh! So now you're ready to get to the real battle! Aren't you going to condemn me to hell for being a total monster or something?" Cami mocked.

"I'm killing you because I have to," I exhaled, "not because I want to anymore."

I expected Cami to jab me with some biting comeback or just sneer at me. However, all arrogance and playfulness left her expression. It contorted devilishly until there was nothing but pure furyt.

"I am so _sick_ of everyone saying that!" she shouted, "'I _have_ to kill you.' Please! None of you get it! Not you, Lucian, Apollo, or even Valhalla! You're all just filled with excuses!"

Cami began to kick rocks as she slowly approached me. With her hands in the air, she mocked, "I was _raised_ this way! The Capitol is _forcing_ me to! It's the only way I can live! I'm just _fucking_ crazy, I can't help it!"

She laughed in an unhinged way as she plopped onto a slab of fallen rock, "All of you have these explanations as to why you kill. You try to justify it to the world! Sorry to break it to you, but at the end of the day you still _choose_ to do it! I seem to be the only one who gets that! Even if you're put in this hell hole, you still don't _have_ to kill anyone! If you're really such a great person, you wouldn't! You would let yourself die before you 'committed such a crime'!"

She stood up again and hissed, "_None_ of you are any better than me. At least I have the decency to admit and accept what I've done. I don't pretend to be something I'm not!"

Her words pierced deep into my heart. Cami was right. Those of us that became murderers in here choose to do it… But that didn't mean it was _right_ that we were forced to choose. A truly selfless person would do what Cami said. They would sacrifice themselves and die… But people aren't selfless. The whole reason these games even exist is because of greed. This all started because people wanted more… They wanted more to live for. We, the tributes, kill because we want more time to live.

"You're right," I replied, "I chose to kill Leith. I chose to kill Valhalla. I chose to hate you and everything you stand for. I chose a lot of things, and right now I'm choosing to fight you. Unlike you, I _know_ I might not win. You very well might rip me apart and get out of here just fine… But what I won't choose is to give up. I choose to fight because I _do_ want to live. It's my reason, not my excuse. If _that, _ofall things, makes me a horrible person… Then that's what I am."

"Nice speech," Cami purred, "But that doesn't get you redemption, babe."

"Right again," I laughed as I felt tears begin to spill over, "but I choose to give _you_ redemption. I forgive you if you kill me. I forgive Valhalla for what she did to Devon… I forgive whoever _killed_ Devon…."

I refused to wipe away the tears rolling down my face. I knew now wasn't the time for this, but it might be all the time I had left. If Cami thought of me as weak, so be it. This was something I had to say. If my entire life had been building up to this moment, then I had better damn make it count.

"I even forgive whoever killed my sister," I choked, "But more importantly, I forgive myself. I hope that everyone I treated horribly will forgive me too. I don't know if they will because I _don't_ deserve it… But neither do you… And me, of all people, is trying to show you that forgiveness... The forgiveness and mercy that isn't in me… The kind that can only come from God."

As I let the last remaining drops of grief and rage wash away, I clung to a new strength. It was a strength I had heard my own mother talk about, but it was something I had never experienced. It wasn't the kind of worldly peace that we manage to grasp for minutes, hours, sometimes even days at a time. It was this lightness… This feelingthat, no matter what happened, everything would be ok. For the first time in my entire life, I found the strength that my mother begged me to find after my sister's death; the strength of _faith_.

"Maybe miracles can happen after all."

* * *

><p><strong>District One: <strong>

**Cami's POV:**

I glared at Ruth with hatred. How _dare_ she stand there and act like she was some sort of holy saint. As if I needed her _forgiveness. _If she thought I felt even slightly bad about killing her, she was _dead_ wrong. I didn't even believe in a god, and I could taste her stupid beliefs flowing through the air. There was no way I was going to let her live over me.

"This is the Hunger Games," I hissed, "There is no _God_ in here."

I raised my last remaining weapon. After all the fighting and the fleeing, I only had one thing left. A tiny dagger that I never thought I would have to use. I remembered Lucian forcing me to take it. He told me you never knew what could happen. Ironic, since he was the mutt that ended up breaking my last sword.

Ruth's soft eyes suddenly became hard again. Whatever had happened, she was now ready to fight… A fight I had no intention of losing. I began to step around fallen rocks, hoping to approach slowly. As much as I believed the best defense was a solid offense, I had to adjust my fighting style accordingly. Not only was I in worse shape than Ruth, but I had seen how she fought. She was purely aggressive. If I fought like I usually did, she could overpower me in this state. All it would take was one solid hit from her sword and I was dead.

I wasn't going to risk it.

Ruth held her ground and refused to budge an inch. Her eyes never left me for a second as I circled around her. She kept her long sword pointed directly at me. She knew she had the upper hand and she wasn't going to give it up easily. I thought about trying to provoke her, but I couldn't find the words. After all she had just said, I didn't think toying with her emotions was possible. Her biggest weakness was no longer available for me to use.

I picked up a rock and chucked it at her. She dodged it easily and I repeated the action. As I threw each rock, she slowly sidestepped closer. I pretended not to notice as I frantically threw one last rock. As soon as it missed, she thrusted her sword forward. I avoided it effortlessly and grabbed the shaft of her sword. I pulled it towards me and she stumbled slightly. I drove my knife downwards as I aimed for her hand. She surprisingly let go of the sword at the last second and my dagger met nothing but air. Before I could recover, she sent a fist flying and it connected with my temple. I landed on the ground and groaned as sharp debris dug into my back. I could feel the sword underneath me and I moved my body to cover it up completely. I didn't want her to have access to any weapons.

Ruth didn't waste any time and used her knees to pin my shoulders to the ground. She kicked the dagger from my hand and wildly began to punch me. I attempted to dodge a few swings, but soon began to feel the excruciating pain of each consecutive blow. In sheer panic, I began to thrash about. One fist missed my skull by mere centimeters and I turned my head. I bit down as hard as I could, feeling the knobs of her knuckles in between my teeth. She hissed in pain and reared back. I used this movement to free an arm and I clawed at her head. I grasped a fistful of hair and pulled with all my might. Ruth fell to the side and scratched at my head as well. I smiled, thankful for the first time that after my hair had been burned to bits I cut the remaining clumps off.

Quickly, she began to pound at my skull with her bare fists. I ignored the pain as I tried to stay on top of her. She floundered underneath me as she lashed out in every direction. I watched as my blood dripped off my face and splattered against hers. I frantically grabbed for anything sharp. My hands met my fallen dagger. I slashed it through the air towards her throat. The steel met with flesh, but not where I had intended. The blade cut through one of Ruth's forearms as she was used both as a fleshy shield. I sliced into her arms again, hoping she would reel back in pain. Instead, she pushed forward and rammed her arms against my attacks. She moaned as the knife dug even deeper, but now she was slowly gaining leverage. Her arms were near my face. She gave one final push. Her bloody wounds and the knife were shoved right into my line of sight. I coughed as I fell backwards. My vision was blinded and I frantically wiped away her blood. Just as I had regained my vision, Ruth charged with her sword. I coughed one last time as I rolled to the side. Fire blossomed through my body but I didn't have the air in my lungs to shriek. I could feel the deep stab wound in my hip, but forced myself to fight through the pain. Before she could attack me again, I grabbed my dagger firmly and threw it.

She backed out of the way of the poorly thrown knife, slightly startled. I took this moment to place my feet below me. My ankle screamed in protest, but I pushed myself off the ground in a flying tackle. Ruth tried to sidestepped, but I stretched my arms out wider. We both went tumbling onto the ground. Her sword was knocked from her grip. She reached for it, but I elbowed her in the jaw. She yelped and threw another fist at me. I blocked it and grabbed her arm. I twisted it and tried to put my entire body weight on it. She screeched as I felt something crack underneath me. I continued my attack without hesitation, forgetting all thoughts of defensive tactics. I drove my elbow in her gut. The breath left her body, but suddenly a blinding pain shot through my skull. She smashed a rock into my skull for a second time and strange images danced through my sight.

With my vision scattered with dots and odd shapes, I could only see one thing; her sword. I dove over her body and reached for it. I could feel her iron grip on my shoulder as she tried to pull me back with one hand. I violently sent another elbow jab towards her. My other arm within mere inches of the weapon. Her grip moved up further. I could feel her pinching my neck and, unexpectedly, everything began to blur. I knew that, within seconds, I would be unconscious. I could feel her begin to climb on top of me and I bucked wildly. With the last of my strength, I lurched forward. My hand gripped the handle firmly. As my vision faded, I blindly thrusted the sword behind my back. I could feel it connect with something and a scream resounded through the air.

As I regained my senses, I struggled to push myself to my feet. Once I was on my hands and knees, I pivoted around. Ruth was lying on the ground. She was clutching the handle of her sword; the sword that was protruding from her chest. With gasping breaths and cries, she tried to pull it out. Before she could remove it fully, I lunged at her with a growl. I grabbed the handle and put all of my weight into pushing it down. Ruth cried out painfully as the sword was shoved back in. As much as she pushed and struggled, I had the momentum and leverage. Soon, the entire sword sank deep into her body. I leaned on it harder and felt it connect with something solid; the hard ground underneath us.

Ruth wheezed and moaned as she quivered underneath me.

"See," I huffed, "I told you that this was _my_ game. I told you I was the Victor, not you."

Instead of fading away or crying, Ruth laughed shakily. With one last series of wheezes she whispered, "You may be the Victor… but we're all… losers. That's why I could… could accept… everything… Because, even if I won, I still lost."

Ruth began to gag and hack up blood. It trickled down her face, merging with the pool that was already surrounding her… a pool that was also mixed with my blood.

"_You_ still lost," she gasped as she turned her head to the side.

Then, as if she was going to sleep, she drifted away. After all the deaths I had seen and caused in these Hunger Games, I had never witnessed one that looked so… peaceful. A cannon shot rang out as her mouth turned upwards; fixing a permanent smile on her corpse.

"Bullshit," I coughed as I placed my foot on her body.

I yanked the sword out of her corpse and beamed. This was the moment… The moment that would be played back every time someone watched the 226th Hunger Games. This was the exact moment a tribute became a Victor. After so long, I had fulfilled the one thing I came in here to do. My heart soared at the thought of my father's expression back home. As mixed as my feelings were towards him, I knew he would be ecstatic. He would be bouncing off the walls and celebrating something for the first time in years. He would probably drag my siblings off to some fancy restaurant we couldn't afford, assuming that he'd have a room overflowing with gold as soon as I returned.

My grin slowly fell as I waited. Another few seconds passed by and it turned into a full frown. What was going on? Why weren't they announcing my victory? Why weren't they getting me out of this hellhole? Suddenly, Ruby's words rang through my ears.

_I'm going to kill you all_

What if the Gamemakers had been serious? What if… what if they _didn't _want a Victor this year? I felt my breathing hitch as I imagined all of the television screens back home. They were all blank. Everyone assumed all of us had been crushed to death. They weren't filming anymore… They were just waiting for me to die. My entire body trembled at the very thought.

"This isn't fair!" I choked, "You can't… you can't do this!"

As if lightening had struck, blinding pain dashed through my mind; electrifying everything in its path.

* * *

><p><strong>District Five: <strong>

**Admyer's POV:**

My hammer connected brutally with Cami's skull. As she stumbled forward, I reached back for another swing. As I swung, Cami grabbed my arm. With surprising agility, she rammed her elbow into my chest and sent my flying backwards. I plopped onto the ground and gasped for breath. As I tried to regain my composure, I observed Cami. She was covered in _blood_. Blood was running down her face and soaking into her clothes. The back of her head was also bleeding, but not just from my hammer. Ruth had bashed something into her head too. She wiped some blood from her forehead and held her sword forward menacingly.

"Are you kidding me? It's seriously _you_," she growled.

Arms wrapped themselves around the under part of my shoulders. Charlotte helped me to my feet and I glanced at her. She was completely covered in dirt and her face was even more bruised. She was leaning heavily on one side and seemed to be having difficulty breathing. I scratched at the dried blood all over me in nervousness. None of us were in very good shape. After Charlotte caused me to fall, everything went dark. The tunnel began collapsing behind us and we both raced forward. For the next few minutes, we ran side by side. We could have very easily tripped the other and sent them to their death, but we didn't. I think we were both just too scared to even contemplate hurting someone else. We eventually made it to the staircase and trampled down it. We reached the bottom and barely avoided being crushed by rocks. I looked down at my now mangled, useless left hand.

_Barely_ was the key word.

"Surprise," Charlotte spat, "Did you miss us?"

"_How_!" Cami yelled, "How the _hell_ did you two survive that?"

"We managed to slip in at the last second. While Ruth and you were still shaking on the ground, I helped Admyer out from underneath a boulder. Then, we wedged ourselves into _that _corner," Charlotte pointed across the cavern as she explained, "between two slabs of rock and some pipes."

"You were here the whole time," Cami growled incredulously.

"Yep," Charlotte smirked, "We were just waiting for the right moment to reveal ourselves. Now that you and Ruth decked it out, it's two against one."

I nodded in agreement. Once I suggested we hide, we looked at each other and knew. Whoever survived their duel, we had to fight together. Even if Ruth had won, she was still stronger than the two of us. Unless they both chopped each other's limbs off and slowly bled to death, we needed the other to have a chance at victory… At getting home.

"Why is it every time we fight you always have a little pet?" Cami nodded towards me viciously.

"I may not be as smart as you, but I'm certainly not stupid. We all know you could take the two of us down separately in seconds. Admyer and I are just evening the odds."

"Don't flatter yourself, babe," Cami hissed as she spat out some blood, "You aren't evening the odds. You're just prolonging the inevitable."

Cami backed away, hoping over debris. I looked at Charlotte, suddenly unsure what to do. We had hoped that I could sneak up on the remaining tribute and knock them out in one hit. Now that it hadn't happened, I was slightly lost. Charlotte gave me an encouraging nod and began to follow Cami. The Career leered at us as she split the double sided sword into two separate ones. She twirled them around as she led us past Ruth's corpse. I looked down at her slack face and was surprised at how innocent she appeared. Since the moment I saw Ruth, her expression had always been one of disgust or distain. It was hard to imagine her in any other way.

As I glanced back at the daunting Cami, I felt less confident. I didn't feel like we had an advantage over her. I felt more like prey that the hunter was humoring. Suddenly, Charlotte made the first move. She sped up her spinning rope and let it fly through the air. Cami batted it away harmlessly with her sword and smiled even wider. However, as she took another step back I saw her stumble slightly. Suddenly, I saw that her confidence was just a charade. The only reason I felt like prey was because that's how _she_ wanted me to feel. Cami was a master manipulator. She made that much clear whenever she confronted _anyone. _When she talked to people, she made sure had full control of the conversation. She was always fighting to be in control and dominant… But right now, none of that mattered. No matter how skilled, smart, and strong this Career was, she was still human. She still had a huge gash on her side and an injured foot. She still bled like the rest of us… And she had to die, just like so many of the tributes before us had.

I wasn't prey. I was just as human as she was.

With my new burst of self-assurance, I sprinted towards her. As I raised my hammer, I could see a look of shock pass across her bloody face. She hadn't expected this and she wasn't prepared. I drove my hammer towards her shoulder and she blocked it. She stumbled slightly under the force and I kicked her as hard as I could in the leg. She yelped in distress and tried to stab me. I ducked and swung my hammer with full force. It slammed into her injured foot.

"Admyer!"

I looked up just in time to see a sword glint in the light. I tried to flatten myself to the ground, but to no avail. It dug deep across my back and I yelled in agony. I could hear movement above me and braced myself for more pain. However, all I could hear was a strangled cry as someone fell over me. The weight pressed me further into the ground and the water splashed underneath me. I glanced to the side to see Cami was on top of me and Charlotte's rope was wrapped tightly around her wrist. One sword fell from her captured hand. Cami began to flail wildly on top of me and tried to use her remaining sword to cut the rope. I pushed myself up from the ground with all of my strength and felt her falter slightly. I crawled out from underneath her and turned around. I sent a kick in her direction and it connected with her shoulder. The kick barely fazed her as she managed to get her knees underneath her. She held her ground as Charlotte tried to pull her closer. I glanced at her and saw Charlotte practically screaming at me with her eyes. Now was the moment where I was supposed to strike. Cami was incapacitated and distracted. I grasped my hammer firmly and swung with all my might.

Cami ducked and glared at me.

"The same trick doesn't work twice."

She swiftly cut the rope and Charlotte was sent falling backwards. Cami fell too and her other sword clattered against the ground. She was down, but only for a second. She almost instantaneously leapt at me. I gasped as the air was knocked out of my body. My head slammed into the ground and I groaned.

"Nice try, _rat_," she hissed in unadulterated revulsion.

Cami wrenched the hammer from my wrist and raised it high. I cried out as all of my fear and desperation that had been collecting these past couple weeks burst out. In those last seconds, my mind reacted to the fear by trying to comfort me. I thought of my scatter-brained mother and hardworking father. I thought of my little sister and how sweet she was. I thought of the wildflowers that I passed by on the way to school. It was one of the only patches of actual nature in all of District Five. I even thought about the first time I ever kissed a boy. How weird, yet sensational it was. I thought of all the people and memories I cherished.

Then everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

I stood back up in time to see Cami drive a hammer into Admyer's temple. I immediately leapt towards her and swiped my sword through the air. She dodged it and quickly grabbed my arm. She used my momentum to flip me over her and I was slammed into the ground.

"I'll be taking that back!" Cami sneered as she picked up the fallen sword I had stolen from her the previous day.

She held it up in the air and I screamed as it approached my head. I threw myself to the right and grabbed another sword. I whipped around and our swords met with a resounding clang. She backed away slightly and, with a flick of her wrist, parried the sword from my grasp. As it flew, I desperately decided to take a page from her book. I head butted the upper half of my head into her face. She cried out as she fell backwards and clawed at my arm. She dragged me down with her and slammed me into the ground. I screamed as intense anguish flashed through me as my broken nose smashed into the ground. Cami grabbed my hair and dug my face further into the hard rocks. I managed to turn my face to the side. I spotted a fallen stalactite and grappled for it. My hands grasped it, and I threw my arm backwards. It burrowed into her thigh and I flipped her. Once she was under me, I pulled it out and stabbed it straight into her stomach. She cried out and bucked underneath me. I tumbled to the side and forced myself to my feet.

Before I could spin around, sharp pain cut through me. I felt her pull the cold steel out from my back and I staggered forward. My eyes honed in to the only hope I could fine and I hobbled frantically towards it.

"You can't run this time!" Cami panted as she wobbled behind me on one foot.

I pulled myself over a slab of debris and rolled across the wet ground. All of my movements were suddenly really constricted and minimal, but I fought to keep the panic at bay. I smothered it, along with any other feeling that was coursing through my body. I could hear Cami sloshing through the water close behind me as I pushed myself to my feet. I gasped in terror as I heard the air swish close by. Her sword clanged against something hard and she swung again. I leapt forward, barely missing certain death. I finally reached the wall of the cavern and pivoted around. Cami swung again with a determined glare. Instead of dodging like she expected, I stepped towards her. The sword sailed past my shoulder, and I grabbed the base of her neck. I dug my nails deep into the skin and pushed her head downwards; straight into an broken pipe.

Cami screamed as her entire face was pressed into the opening of the burning pipe. Her cries were muffled as smoke seeped out from underneath her skull. A sudden burst of steam blew and her screeches amplified tenfold. Her limbs flailed underneath m,e and she hit every part of my body harshly. She tried to pry my hands away, but I just pressed harder. I tried to feel some sort of satisfaction for avenging Adam. I tried to feel happy that I was winning this fight. I even tried to feel pity for the intense torture Cami was going through but nothing worked. I felt absolutely _nothing_.

Just as Cami began to struggle less, pain tingled through my body. I stumbled to the side, gripping my shoulder. I turned around to see Admyer holding a sword covered in blood. His eyes widened when he saw anger contort my face into something hideous.

"You missed," I growled as I reached for another fallen stalactite, "Big mistake."

He sliced the sword towards me, but I easily jumped back in time with the piece of stone. Admyer had obviously never handled a sword except for whatever time he spent with it during training. He was used to using his hammer and knives, not something as long as a sword. I barely even remembered what the trainer said about how to properly hold a sword, but I could tell you Admyer wasn't doing it right. I dodged another swing and shanked him with the rock. I drove it deep into his stomach and he gasped. He sent an uppercut to my jaw. I stumbled backwards and fell into the wall. Before I could react, Cami was suddenly on her feet. Her face was a deep, harsh red. It was puffy and glazed… She didn't even look human anymore. She grabbed me by the hair and threw me towards Admyer. I fell onto his blade and felt it sink into my flesh. He stumbled back as I stumbled to the ground. I managed to catch myself with my hands. I could hear grunts and splashing as the two of them brawled.

I pushed through the agony as I dragged the sword out. Blood poured out of my wound. I blinked as darkness began to seize me. I was being swallowed whole. I felt like this was the end, but I fought. I fought through the blackness and the torture. I didn't know if it was real, but I focused on a small light. It was a light I had been carrying all my life. It was a light that had been continuously dimmed and stamped on as the games progressed. It was practically nothing but embers.

It was _hope_.

I gasped as the darkness was pushed the edge of my vision. I stood up in time to see Cami on top of Admyer. She was punching him with one arm as she grappled for a sharp rock. As I stumbled towards her, she grabbed it and began to stab it into him. He screamed in pure, human pain as it entered his body repeatedly. Before she could do it for the countless time, I drove the sword through her back. She gasped slightly as her entire body went rigid. She turned around and murmured something unintelligible. Crystal tears formed in her eyes as she slid to the side. Her body collapsed on the ground and went completely slack. Admyer twitched on the ground and suddenly every muscle in my body ceased to function. Everything just shut down. I fell forward and landed on top of Admyer. His chest was warm… warm and red. The blood warmed my body and soothed me. As I convulsed, I barely felt the pain… All I felt was warmth… Comfortable just like all those days ago when I used to lay in the grassy fields.

As I floated into gales of nothingness, I knew only one thing to be true.

I had finally escaped.

* * *

><p><strong>And this, my lovelies, is the end of the 226th Hunger Games. What happened to the rebels? What was Lavender's big plan? Who will our victor be? Did any of them survive? I suppose you'll have to stick around for another chapter or two to find out.<strong>

**Now is the time to catch up on reviews if you are planning on submitting a tribute for the 227th Hunger Games, which will be open for submissions as soon as I completely finish this story. **

**See you later,**

**Europa**


	58. The Epilogue: Part One: Step by Step

**The Epilogue: Step by Step**

**Part One:**

**Escort's POV:**

**Muffy's POV:**

As Charlotte fell on top of Admyer's body, the screen faded to black. Panem's symbol shimmered into view, and it was as if everyone in the entire Capitol took a collective gasp.

"That's _it_!" I heard Azula screech at the top of her lungs.

"What's happening!" Another escort asked in a panicked tone.

"Don't be daft, Lily," I sighed as I flipped my hair back, "This has happened before."

"It _has_?" Yuthara asked dumbly.

It had only happened once before, but it still had happened. When I first applied to be an escort, I watched recordings of past games in order of popularity. A game that had happened fifty odd years ago was one of the top rated, yet I had never even heard of it. Even now, I couldn't remember what exact number it was. The reason it was so popular wasn't because of the Victor who won or the games itself, it was how they ended. In fact, it was a common Hunger Games. The Careers slaughtered everyone and almost none of the other tributes even stood out. The Careers dominating the competition wasn't an unusual thing.

Then it got down to the Final Four. The tributes left alive were both from Four, the girl from One, and the boy from Two. The two District Four tributes, Wesley and Traya, were still in an alliance with the girl from One, Opal. They almost made this perfect trifecta. Traya had the wisdom, Wesley had the power, and Opal had the courage. They were just going to stick together to take out the biggest threat left, the giant boy from Two. However, on the last day, it was made clear nothing was as it seemed. I watched as Traya poisoned both her allies, Opal met secretly with the boy from Two, and Wesley attempted to drown Traya. When Opal and the boy showed up, Opal stabbed both boys in the back, literally. They fought brutally and, eventually, both Opal and the boy from two died. Right when Wesley was about to finish Traya off, the poison finally caught up to him. He collapsed and started convulsing while Traya rapidly bled to death.

Then they cut the screens to black without announcing a winner.

When I asked some older citizens what happened, they told me. Both tributes were in such critical condition that, if left in the arena, they would both die. The Capitol wouldn't have had a victor and that wasn't acceptable to them. So the Gamemakers yanked them both out and… that's it. Weeks later, Traya was announced as the Victor and Panem was told Wesley eventually died from the poison.

Was that the truth? I had no idea, but that was what everyone believed. I suppose, that in itself, makes it the truth.

"Yes," I replied calmly, "It just means that the tributes had to be evacuated. You saw how all of them were… They were torn to shreds. All of them had lost a ton of blood and there would be no possible way for the Gamemakers to predict who would live the longest."

"What do you mean _predict_? The last one alive wins. That's the rules," Fiyero replied stupidly.

I bit my cheeks to stop myself from talking. Of course they would believe that. They didn't know any better… But that isn't how reality works. If you thought that every _single_ game one person always out survived the others, you were mistaken and a fool. There were times both tributes were still alive at the end. The Gamemakers could just tell by statistics, readings, and their heart monitors who would live the longest. I knew there times they lifted two, or even three, tributes out of the arena who were still alive. The difference between this game and the rest was that one of those tributes was a clear victor. This time, any of those three tributes could be. They fought tooth and nail to win.

"You're right, what am I thinking?" I smiled ditzily as I tried to deflect all of my fellow escort's attention away from me.

"Obviously nothing, Miss Know-It-All," Azula gloated as she flipped her hair back, "_My_ tribute might be a victor and it's only my _first_ year."

"I bet you had _so_ much to do with that," I muttered under my breath.

I wasn't as naïve as I was last year. I quickly realized that the escorts did nothing. We maybe gave some proper etiquette and fashion tips, but we didn't make any real difference in the Hunger Games. We were just supposed to smile and look pretty… Just like everything else in the Capitol.

"I suggest we head out for a night on the town! If Muffy is right, we won't be hearing about our new victor for quite some time," Singing Rain chimed as she practically danced out of the room.

Others began to drift out in groups, but I stayed seated. I wasn't in the mood to party. I hadn't gone to any sort of event willingly for quite some time. It was exhausting to always be so bubbly and happy. A few friends suggested I should take certain drugs… That it would 'loosen' me up. Frankly, I declined because I didn't want to be mentally stunted train wrecks like them.

"You coming?" Celia asked as she shuffled out the door.

Suddenly, my earring made a low, quiet chime. The small ding caught my full attention. I shook my head as I smiled, "I think I'm just going to head home… Get a good night's sleep."

"All right, I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can grab something to eat," Celia suggested kindly.

I nodded as I departed through a different exit. I appreciated how kind Celia was all the time. She was one of the very few people I had ever met in the Capitol that wasn't fake in some way. She was genuinely just a nice person… Even if it made her weak at times. I rode down the elevator and swiftly made it to the main lobby. I took a hard right and walked towards the indoor parking garage. My heels clanked loudly against the tile floor. The entire building was empty now that the games were over. People were either catching up on their sleep or out celebrating. No one was working or maintaining the Training Center.

As I stepped into the garage, I spotted a common sight in the Capitol; a black limousine. Step by step, I clicked and clacked towards the discreet car. I pulled on the handle and it opened smoothly. I scooted into the car without a second glance and shut the door behind me. I looked up and smiled at the person across from me. She sat stiffly in the car as she ran her fingers through her purple hair.

"Hello Lavender. You needed me?"

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Rouge's POV:**

I stroked my hand across the velvet fabric of my seat as I stared out the speeding train. The scenery shifted effortlessly from city to nature. Lush greens blended with bright blues and browns easily. It was almost like a water colored canvas that a Capitolian had slaved days over.

"Are you worried at all?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I listened to Agatha hobble closer. The President decided to send all the victors back home. We were told we wouldn't know who had won the Hunger Games for several weeks and that there was no point in all of us staying. A few popular victors, such as myself, were given the option to continue to reside in the Capitol until then. I declined immediately. Thankfully, I had an excuse that the public would eat ravenously. I could practically hear their coos and clucks as they thought of me returning home to my daughter.

"Surprising. Most mentors, even Careers, seem to get attached to their tributes," Agatha commented as she lowered herself onto the couch next to me.

"I guess I'm not most mentors," I deadpanned, desperately wanting to be alone.

As this was my first year, I didn't know what I was getting into. One thing I did expect off the bat, however, was to dislike my tribute. As a general rule, if you were a true blooded Career I wouldn't get along with you. Ironically, Camilla was that and more. It wasn't just her blood that was stained by the Career mentality, but her very being.

"Who do you think deserves to win?" Agatha asked, forcing conversation as she gazed at me worriedly.

I looked away from her reflection in the window and turned towards her. I knew she saw the bruise around my neck hidden under layers of makeup. She was always the shrewd one and we both knew what happened. One of the men the President sent to me decided to get a little rough. What Agatha didn't know was that he came off _far _worse. One bruise was nothing compared to several broken ribs.

"That's a very vague question," I responded, "The tribute who deserves it, in terms of action, is probably Camilla. She played the game the hardest and endured the most physically. However, if you're asking about _morally_… It definitely isn't her. Maybe it would be Admyer, seeing as her never killed anyone."

"He stabbed Charlotte towards the end," Agatha pointed out.

"She was pushed into his sword. You saw him jump back. He was shocked," I argued, "but you could also say he let his district partner die. I'm not saying he's innocent, I'm saying he isn't Camilla."

"Very true," Agatha nodded in agreement, "What about Charlotte?"

"What about her? She deserves it as much as them both I suppose. Even though Cami killed more, Charlotte certainly fought more. She and her district partner were fighting mutts and tributes alike during the underground portion of the games. Don't forget to add she had to deal with his death and keep fighting. If you put emotions into your formula, maybe Charlotte deserves it the most."

"What formula would that be, my dear?" Agatha asked as she poured herself some tea served by an Avox.

"Your formula that someone _deserves_ to win," I clarified, "Frankly, I don't think that factors into it. If it did, a lot of children wouldn't even be in the Hunger Games."

Agatha nodded as she sipped at her drink. I pawed at a small desert and popped it into my mouth. The moist chocolate flavor coated my taste buds and filled me with warmth. I began to nibble on a few more as Agatha continued to observe me. I pretended not to notice.

"You seem lost in your own brain. Would you like some guidance from one who has been around longer?"

I glanced around the train car. It was brimming with luxury and beauty. Every piece of furniture was made of the finest materials. Everything seemed to shimmer in the light bouncing off the hanging crystal fixture. It was all so much, but now I was immune to it. All of this beauty and comfort meant nothing to me. It was all so fake and manufactured.

"I'm just thinking about what it was like mentoring for the first time," I lied as I avoided my own dangerous thoughts, "It's odd knowing that this will be something I have to do for the rest of my life."

"It's a unique position to be put in. It takes some time to get comfortable with the fact so many people will easily glide in and out of your life. If you let it, other people lives lose meaning."

I nodded cautiously. I knew Agatha's words always meant something. She never made small talk or said anything without thinking it through. She was a careful person in every possible aspect.

"You'll have tributes to guide for some time to come. Sometimes losing them will mean nothing, and then other times it's almost unbearable."

"Just come out and say whatever it is you are trying to say," I groaned in frustration.

"Fine. I'm trying to warn and prepare you, just like I've always done."

I rolled my eyes, tired of her cryptic messages. Before I could leave or turn away, she changed the topic drastically.

"How is Partridge doing?"

The mention of my daughter's name immediately garnered my full attention. Knowing that the two subjects were linked, I shrugged nonchalantly. I had talked to Polish, my sister, several times and Partridge was doing fine. As fine as a baby a little over three months old could be.

"She's a pretty child. She has tufts of your golden hair and porcelain skin. I can see her years from now, though. With Link's genetics, she'll tan easily. I can already imagine her standing tall and strong. Instead of being a porcelain doll like all the residents of District One, she'll be a strong warrior goddess."

Agatha's words drifted through the air like a melody. She painted an image of my daughter as a dazzling beauty.

"Hopefully she'll never have to endure the hardships we've had to face."

Her words stabbed like iron daggers. I knew what she was implying so subtly. She was compelling me to picture my greatest fear; my daughter being reaped and forced into the Hunger Games because I was her mother. I imagined her being slaughtered in the arena before my very eyes. I could physically feel the deep pain of the future event… An event that was being foreshadowed by Ophelia's own life.

Suddenly, Agatha's words of strength and beauty created a new fear. What if she did win? If she came back, she _would_ have to endure the same pain I did. There wasn't a doubt in my mind she would be drafted into this business. The President wouldn't spare her. Partridge would be some sort of sex doll for the Capitol.

Like mother like daughter.

Tears began to sting my eyes. I looked into Agatha's own eyes and felt my blood turn to ice.

"Oh Panem, you're one of _them_," I hissed.

In Agatha's eyes, I saw the same thing I had seen in Memory and Ophelia. For the first time, Agatha wasn't concealing anything from me. I could see the desperate, raging fire of rebellion in her.

"What are you talking about?" Agatha questioned coyly as she sipped away.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," I growled, "And I'll tell you exactly what I told them. I'm not joining you for even one second. I've already lost three people I loved. I'm not losing anything else."

"That doesn't mean much when you have no power or choice in that matter. All it takes is one decision and phone call to take everything away in a second," she whispered gravely.

I pushed myself up from my couch and stomped out of the room. Anger welled deep inside me. I didn't have the luxury to rebel anymore. When I was younger, I found ways to be myself and act out. They were small, but they were present… But those days are over. My life isn't my own anymore. It's the Presidents. She leads and I follow. If you force me to pick between me and my daughter, I pick her every time.

* * *

><p>I walked towards my house as I try to ignore the clicks of the cameras and the mindless babbling. My fellow victors are far behind me. After my conversation with Agatha, I had put as much space between the two of us as physically possible. I couldn't get caught up in that mess. Raven proved once what happened when you defied her… I wasn't willing to do it again.<p>

I stepped into my home and slammed the door behind me. I threw my jacket onto a nearby loveseat and began to unwrap my silk scarf.

"Polish, I'm back," I called out as I began to walk up the stairs.

I heard her call out from the kitchen, but I continued to the second story. I marched down the hallway and almost sprinted towards the nursery. I half expected to walk in and see blood splashed against the light pink walls or to see the stillness of a dead baby. I opened the door as quietly as I could and peeked in. I breathed out in relief when I saw Partridge sleeping soundly. Her tiny frame moved with each fragile inhale and exhale of air. Seeing this slight, almost unnoticeable movement was the most reassuring thing that I now had in my life. It was the one thing I could observe that would tell me, without a doubt, that everything was all right. Sometimes I found myself watching her for hours… As if she could stop breathing at any second.

I closed the door. I didn't want to disturb her sleep, even though I was dying to hold her in my arms. I could feel them begin to itch as I remembered the feeling. I began to return to the staircase, excited to talk to my sister in person again. I glanced to the right and froze in my tracks.

The door to a bedroom was open. A bed of ebony was neatly made and the curtains fluttered from the wind blowing in from an open window. It was a room that I hadn't opened in a year.

It was the bedroom my sister, Silver, was murdered in.

"Polish!" I called out. I was suddenly terrified that what I heard earlier were muffled cries for help.

"Polish!" I yelled frantically, "Why did you go into that room! Is everything ok!"

As I trampled down the stairs and skirted around the corner, I stopped in tracks for what felt like the thousandth time today. Life was just throwing me constant curve balls right now.

"I was meaning to talk to you about this next time you called," Polish explained as she tossed a salad, "I didn't expect you to be back for a little while."

Standing in the kitchen with my sister was my estranged mother. My mother and I had never gotten along. Partly it was because we never had a single thing to talk about. All mother seemed to enjoy was shopping and small talk. Neither of those things were activities I partook in unless I was forced to. The other part was because she never once stood up for us kids. She just left us at his mercy. However, the unsettling thing wasn't the fact that she was now standing in my kitchen or had moved into my home.

It was that she didn't have a fake smile plastered on her face.

"What happened?" I asked, getting straight to the point. One thing I knew was that Polish would never let our father even come to this house, let alone move in. She knew the second I saw him I would grab the nearest object and start threatening him.

"I left your father," my mother sighed briskly as she looked out the window.

For the first time in my entire life, she wasn't perfect. Her hair wasn't neatly done. Her face was naked and blemished. Her jacket hung crookedly around her frame and her nails were chipped.

"How?" I asked.

I didn't need to know why. The man was a monster. If I was given a single grain of rice for the amount of times he threatened someone in our family, I could single-handedly feed one of the poor districts. He was a constant abuser who used fear to try to control people. He didn't care if you loved him or even liked him. He just wanted you to obey him.

"A long time ago, just after Polish was born, I told him I was leaving," my mother reminisced, "and he told me if I ever brought it up again, he would kill me. He told me that he brought me into the Lockett family, and he certainly had no problem taking me out… permanently..."

"So why aren't you dead?"

"Rouge!" Polish admonished. She had always been the cold callous one in our family but, over the past year, I had far surpassed her. I could be like the coldest tundra at the snap of the finger.

"Because of both of you," my mother whispered.

Something about her quiet, solemn words cracked through my icy wall. I felt the small, scared child in me call out for the mother that was never mentally or emotionally there. I wanted to be protected and at the same time protect her.

"What?"

"Father has nothing left," Polish explained, "Two of his children are dead and one of them, a victor, publicly disowned him. If he even tried to touch mother, he'd lose me too… As well as his entire business. You know how father feels about his 'empire'. I'm the last heir to take on the Lockett name and business. If I leave, everything dies with him."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"If you hadn't won, we wouldn't have this house to move to. In fact, all of us would have ended up following his plans to the dot… We'd still be under his thumb," Polish continued.

"You're right," I responded, "Silver and Silk would be alive."

Polish's face whitened as she stuttered, "I-I didn't mean it like that-"

"I blamed you," my mother deadpanned.

I glanced at her, surprised as I felt a small flicker of pain cross my face. She looked at me with eyes filled with grief… A grief I recognized all too well.

"For the longest time, I thought if you hadn't volunteered we would all be safe and happy. I truly believed it was your entire fault and struggled not to be bitter towards you… And it wasn't like you made it easy for me. One day when your father said he despised me while casually eating breakfast… I realized it had nothing to do with you. All of this is his fault. He pushed you away. He _pushed_ you into volunteering rather than living a life you hated. All of this misery is because of him."

My mother's words shocked me. They were thoughts that I had never even considered to be true. As much as I despised the man, I never once thought that my sibling's deaths were anyone's fault but my own. I chose to go into the Hunger Games. No one forced me to do it. In fact, not a single person wanted me to.

"I understand if you want me to leave," my mother whispered, "I haven't been a very good parent… or a parent at all. I thought that if I _didn't_ try to control you, it would help. I thought that then you could be yourself when you were away from him and with me. I thought…"

My mother trailed off and stood up, "It doesn't matter what I thought, I suppose."

"Mother…" Polish whispered as my mother began to collect some of her freshly cleaned laundry. I could see she had a suitcase next to her, ready to go. Even though she had been staying here for at least several days, she assumed I would send her away the second I saw her. She had prepared herself for that moment this entire time.

As I looked at her, I saw so many resemblances between us. We both pushed everyone away to try to protect them. We both put on a façade to protect _ourselves_. We both struggled to find who we were and our own happiness in life. In this moment, I wanted to cry. I wanted to run up to my mother and envelop her in a long embrace. I wanted to tell her that I was her daughter and that I loved her. I _wanted_ to do so many things.

"You can stay if you want. It makes no difference to me," I replied coldly.

As I walked back to the nursery, I heard Polish complained, "That's as good as you're going to get from Rouge now days."

"All things come in steps… Even baby steps, dear" my mother replied in relief.

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Ethan's POV:**

"Ethan?" a voice chimed.

I looked up from my book. Alicia, my wife, was standing on the porch. The sea breeze wafted through her dark brown hair and her dress billowed like sails.

"Yes?"

"I think you should come see this."

I placed my book down carelessly as I followed her back into the house. We walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Our television was broadcasting straight from the Capitol and I could tell Alicia had been mindlessly listening to it from the kitchen. Standing on the screen was a man with bright pink hair. His skin was embedded with small glass shards and his eyes were blood-red. Instead of smiling at the camera, like most Capitolians seemed to do, he looked at us solemnly.

"I have saddening news to report to everyone across Panem."

I glanced at my wife as she nervously tapped her foot against the floor. This same segment must have been put on loop because she already knew what was coming. She _knew_ that I was going to be upset.

"President Raven addressed the media this morning with a statement. 'Last night, I had to take extreme measures for the safety of a few victors. The pressures of life had suddenly overwhelmed them, causing a fight to break out. Each victor has their own mental health problems that need to be taken care of and we ask for privacy during this very troubling time. To insure the best care, they have been taken to the Capitol's very own Asylum. The road to recovery may be a hard one, but hopefully they will traverse it with ease.'"

Her words struck a chord within me. Victors lost their damn minds all the time. There was even a one in District Four that _everyone_ knew was insane. The Presidents have never cared to send them away before. In fact, throughout history they had all but ignored their very existence. Whatever happened, it wasn't for _their_ safety. It was for the President's.

"As of now, President Raven has refused to release the names of which victors have been taken to the Asylum to be treated. All that I can report is that three popular victors in particular have not been seen in a few days. Memory Summit, Lorie Regigas, and Ophelia Pendragon have all been out of sight ever since this event transpired."

My heart sank deeper with each resounding name. Not only was Memory my friend but my coconspirator. All three of those ladies were part of our rebellion. I looked at Alicia and tried not to panic. Raven once killed my parents for challenging her, and it only happened by mistake. She could... She _would_ kill Alicia if she knew about my involvement.

Even though I struggled to stay calm, I felt my entire body begin to change. My breathing picked up and my heart felt like lead. I knew that every emotion I was feeling was registered on my face. I was an open book. I couldn't keep any of it inside. I was starting to shut down.

Instead of freaking out or losing her cool, Alicia captured my gaze with her eyes.

"Come on. Let's bake."

She grabbed my hand and led me back to the kitchen. She began to pull out several different bowls and cups. As she gathered different ingredients, she slid a recipe into my view. It was a well-worn recipe that I had first used when she had taught me how to bake. It was simple sea salt bread; a district staple.

"Start mixing the ingredients. You should know how to do this by heart."

Once she gave me the order, I followed it thoroughly. My hands stirred the ingredients together and my mind focused only on my motions. I counted the times I circled the bowl. I did everything I could to trick my mind into thinking of something simple. As I began to knead the dough, Alicia set a glass of water next to me.

"Now tell me what's going on."

Just like the drills I was given during training, I followed her orders. I told her about the secret rebellion. I described to her what happened when Lavender found out and how scared I was. I told her everything, except for one event… I refused to let her know the true reason why our baby didn't make it out of her womb alive. I would rather be put in excruciating pain than bring up the one thing that almost destroyed her… almost destroyed _us_.

"Huh," she huffed as she set the bread in the oven.

Her minimal response set off alarms in my mind. Alicia always had a response. Even if it was quiet and short, there was _always_ something.

"Don't you have more to say? Something other than a puff of air?"

She pulled her hair back and separated it into pig tails. She continued to fiddle with her hair as she gazed out the window. The only sound was the soothing jingle of wind chimes. It drifted through the air, almost making it feel like summer.

"What do you expect me to say? My husband was part of… of something unimaginable and… and I don't _know_ how to react."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ethan," she scolded, "When you proposed to me, you told me you wanted a calm, normal life. You said that now that the Hunger Games were behind you, _this_ is what you wanted. You wanted to come back to a _home_. I took your word for that and, now, I'm suddenly supposed to be ok with the fact you decided to practically declare _war_ on the Capitol."

I digested each word carefully like a fine delicacy. In my anger and spite, I hadn't thought about what we were doing. I knew it was dangerous and that everything would change… But I never thought of _how_ it would change. Of how our actions would affect everyone.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't think of it like that."

Alicia threw her hands up in the air as she moaned, "How could you _not _think of that? What mysterious army were you going to conjure to take them down! It couldn't have just been this tiny, select group!"

"We don't want to destroy them" I mumbled, "We want them on our side."

Alicia froze and turned towards me. Her eyes were filled with rage and fear.

With the least amount of control I had ever seen her possess, she replied, "The Capitol and the Hunger Games go hand-in-hand. You don't get one without the other. How in Panem did you ever expect them to suddenly _decide_ to get rid of the games?"

"I… I don't know. I wasn't the brains of the operation. That was…"

I trailed off and turned around. My thoughts filled back up with the images of my fellow victors. I knew now that our plan wasn't foolproof. In fact, it was a death wish. The Capitol wouldn't change to the Districts sides out of sympathy. The one defining characteristic of their society was that they were _selfish_. They only cared about themselves… They believed their lives were the center of the entire universe. Everything else paled in comparison.

"I'm… I'm sorry," was all I could muster as I lowered myself into a nearby chair. I pressed my face into my hands and tried to gather myself. Everything was slipping through my fingers like sand. I just couldn't hold on to all of it at once. No matter what I did, it began to trickle out somewhere.

Alicia laid her hands on my knees and pressed her face into my arm, "Stop apologizing. This is so much to handle, but you've still got me… You'll always have me. We'll get through this together."

I raised my head and gazed into her chocolate brown eyes.

"How?"

The timer began to beep. The noise startled me as it resonated through the house. Alicia glanced back that the kitchen. We looked at the scattered bowls and recipes. Flour was sprinkled across the counter. The smell of fresh bread wafted through the air. She turned back to me and smiled sweetly.

"Just like we always do when we bake; we go step by step and do one thing at a time."

* * *

><p><strong>Before you even type "but Europa, I want to know what happened with fnjfdaslnadsnfdaa"<strong>

**Shhhh, my child.**

**I can 100% guarantee that you that you will find out the conclusion of the events that happened in the arena in the next chapter. I just thought/wanted to write a chapter to give everyone a little breather (even if you didn't want to take a breath). I hope you enjoyed this chapter that added some dimensions to the ongoing stories that are our Victor's/Capitolian's lives. **

**I'll update soon, I promise. I've just been dealing with a hectic summer that is even more hectic now that I'm getting some severe hives from some new allergy I've developed :P But don't worry, that won't stop me! When I'm not sleeping because of the medication, I'll be attempting to write xD **

**Until next time,**

**Europa**


	59. The Epilogue: Part Two: Day by Day

**The Epilogue: Day by Day**

**Part Two:**

**The Victor's POV:**

I floated through nothingness for what felt like eternity. I was surrounded by only serenity and peace. Low humming vibrated around me and it was as if I was encased in a tank full of warm bathwater. As my mind drifted, I slowly pondered if this was what death really was. Was I ever going to reach some sort of destination? Would it be filled with singing angels or maybe rolling plains? At some point, I decided I was just destined to stay lucid and rootless until the end of time.

Oddly enough, I was ok with that.

However, soon the comfort began to fade. The humming began to escalate in noise and the serenity oozed away. Everything began to shake and stir. Instead of nothingness, I was suddenly well aware of my own pain. I began to panic, thinking that I _had_ reached my final destination. Maybe my final stop wasn't meant to be in some sort of heaven. Maybe I had been sent straight to hell.

My worry heightened all of my senses. With all the force I could muster, I pushed through the haze and opened my eyes. Harsh light blinded me and I tried to move my arm to block it. Nothing happened. I couldn't feel any part of my body. I couldn't even command my skull to move to either side.

"You're not supposed to be awake yet," someone whispered softly, "Go back to sleep."

I wanted to scream out in protest. I tried to do _anything_, but I had no control. Within minutes, the haze became thicker and my eyes closed naturally. I began to drift again, forgetting all of my previous thoughts and discoveries. I glided through an open sea of emptiness, feeling nothing but contentment.

* * *

><p>The next time I came to my senses, I found it to be ten times easier. My eyes opened easily and I managed to look around. I was in a startling stark, white room. I foolishly thought I was in some sort of afterlife. My drugged mind could only process that a place this pure white had to be ethereal. However, small aches and pain made me quickly realize I was far from dead. I sat up in my bed and looked down. I was covered in a hospital gown, but even without being nude I felt like this wasn't my body. Not once in my entire life had I ever looked this healthy and nourished. I clawed at the fabric and hitched it up. All of my scrapes, scratches, and scars were gone. I gasped in fright as I remembered a deep wound splayed across my torso. The image flashed by, but once it was gone I saw nothing but my new, smooth skin. Even the scars I had my entire life had vanished.<p>

"I know. It's shocking what technology can do."

I jumped in surprise and pulled my gown back down. Sitting in a chair in the corner was a woman with bright, blonde hair. She was wearing a red dress and seemed to be flipping through a magazine mindlessly. I suddenly remembered her. She was an escort, but she wasn't mine.

"Where's Azula?" I croaked with a hint of disdain, remembering my bitchy escort.

"No one knows," the woman replied, "Maybe she ran off with some rich Capitolian man. Since no one could find her, they needed a replacement for you. Naturally, I was their first choice. You might remember me from last year."

Suddenly, the woman looked at me with her glittering green eyes and I _did_ remember her.

"Right... Muffy," I slurred slightly, my tongue still feeling slightly numb.

Before she could reply, the door flew open. My stylist marched in along with my mentors. Miranda was grinning from ear to ear while Wolf had a meek smirk.

"Charlotte!" Miranda called as she enveloped me in an embrace.

Hearing my name burst forth from her mouth jarred me. I felt stupid as I just came to the realization I was _alive_. This wasn't some misty dream or hallucination. I could feel everything around me vividly.

I had won the Hunger Games.

Charlotte Fern, the girl who loved riding horses and lazing around outside, was still alive. I knew I should have felt extremely happy, exuberant even. I should be smiling at all of these proud people and squealing. Maybe I should have started to cry from just the relief of it all… But I just stared at them.

I felt absolutely nothing.

* * *

><p>"You're going to be fabulous," Muffy chirped as she batted at my hair for the hundredth time, "The Capitol is going to go crazy when they see you."<p>

I nodded in agreement as I pulled at my dress uncomfortably. It was a lacy, pink dress. The top half was intricately woven. Every tiny piece of lace swirled and dazzled in the light. The bottom half, however, puffed out dramatically. It was fairly short and had a large ribbon wrapped tied in the back. The first time I looked in the mirror and saw it, I thought I resembled some sort of Capitolian pastry. However, I kept this thought to myself when I saw the desperately blissful expression sprawled across my stylist's face.

"Your hair has such lovely curls and 'poof' to it, but it simply does not want to do what it's told." Muffy complained.

I took comfort in the fact that at least one thing about me was the same. My body felt alien to me. Not only were all of my scars were gone, but it was fleshed out. I had slightly bigger breasts and even my face looked different. I still wouldn't call myself beautiful or dazzling, but I didn't seem mousy or ugly either. My nose was straighter and was missing the bump in it from where I broke it years ago. I didn't look like a completely different person… But everything had been touched up. My face seemed unnaturally symmetrical… All of the small quirks and kinks were gone.

I was a 'better' version of myself.

"Get ready, you're heading up next," Muffy called as both of my mentors stood on either side of me.

While I was being prepped for the Victor's Ceremony, I was also filled in on everything that I had missed. Miranda told me about how close the competition was and how no one knew who the victor was, even now. All of Panem was going to find out I was the Victor the second the three of us stepped out onto the stage. I had asked earlier if they thought everyone was going to be disappointed. Muffy shook her head saying the Capitol always liked their victors when they won. The only difference between victors was how soon the Capitol got bored of them.

I had a feeling their attention to me would be fleeting, at best.

Suddenly, the platform rose beneath me. I shakily rode it. My legs buckled nervously beneath me. Wolf squeezed my arm as I looped mine through both of theirs. The roar of the crowd was deafening as the light hit the ground in front of us. I took a deep breath and stepped forward with my mentors.

The glittering lights dazzled me as the Capitol's cheers escalated even further. I observed the crowd as we stepped down the runway. Most of them were clapping and screaming wildly. I spotted a few people who visibly looked disappointed, but I tried to ignore it. My mentors broke away from me and I kept walking forward. I tried to react appropriately, but I felt like I was simply gliding across the stage. Everything felt like a dream. Europa smiled at me as the President walked towards us. I had never been in the actual presence of her, but she was smaller than she appeared on screen. However, she made up for it by being even more intimidating and frightening. Her smile was sickeningly sweet as I lowered myself. She placed the Victor's crown on my head and the entire crowd went ballistic.

The President stepped away and Europa motioned me to a nearby chair. I sat down in it and Europa made a grand flourish with her hand. A hush fell over the audience as the dancing lights died and a large screen lit up. Without even having to say a word, the game's recap started.

As I watched the video, it felt as if I was seeing a different life. When I saw the faces of my fellow tributes not even my pulse changed. When Adam's face appeared during his reaping, I felt nothing. I watched as I stepped to the stage, giggling wildly. I remembered how that was the only way I could stop myself from sobbing uncontrollably. Back then, laughter was what fixed everything.

Watching it back now, I appeared silly. I looked like a silly girl who was going to die. As the pre-games flowed across the screen, I saw the same thing. I was a silly girl in a ridiculous outfit on top of a ludicrous chariot. I was a stupid girl who seemed almost non-existent during training. Even when my training score was a seven, no one batted an eye. People, even me, thought it was just a fluke. During my interview, I laughed, joked, and seemed _almost_ happy. I remembered thinking that I looked likable or amiable.

No, I just appeared trivial.

The video showed other tributes. It showed the Career's alliance, focusing on Apollo's romance and Cami's leadership. The video showed clips of Valhalla, who appeared almost meaningless and weak. We got to see Lucy and Adam, as well as other tributes that the Capitol must have adored.

Then the Bloodbath started.

It showed the chaos and panic as we all tried to come to grips with the complex arena. Everyone frantically ran around the labyrinth, even the most levelheaded of people. They highlighted the two deaths as well as me attacking one of the female tributes. The days seemed to fly in front of me. It showed Adam and me fighting the three girl alliance, which included Lucy. It showed every fight we had with every mutt, which seemed like many when you compared it to the other tribute's time in the arena.

As I watched myself on the screen, I still looked so silly. Although I showed some talent with my rope, I treated everything like a big joke. Adam and I were constantly bantering. We almost never talked about anything seriously. Even though we could have died at any moment, we seemed content with laughing everything off. We didn't appear brave or strong. We looked foolish.

The Capitol highlighted the Careers, especially once Valhalla joined them. We saw clips of Admyer and his district partner once they joined together. Surprisingly enough, the Capitol refrained from showing anything graphic involving Lucian. We saw who he killed, but never what he did with the corpses or heads. Ruth was also shown quite often. She seemed unhinged by her district partner's death. I was shocked by some of her actions and realized how ruthless and dangerous she truly was. Why had I all but forgotten about her existence until the Final Four?

Adam and I found the egg, something we thought was useless at the time. For the first time, I considered how everything would have changed if we had figured out the riddle sooner. Maybe Adam would have made it to the Final Two with me… The Career's breakup was dramatic and piqued my interest. It was obviously one of the most pivotal moments of these games and the Capitol absorbed the replay ravenously. Our fight with the giant mutt, Lucy, was shown in full. I tried to gloss over all of the deaths. Knowing exactly how everyone died wasn't entertaining or interesting to me. In fact, all it did was make me feel even worse for sitting here alive.

When Adam's skull was kicked across the room, I didn't look away. I watched as my face crumbled and I screamed in horror. As the scenes shifted, I slowly saw how devastated I was. That silly girl finally realized that everything wouldn't magically work itself out. The seams continued to break until I was at the edge of sanity. The clips involving other tributes passed by like lightening to me. It was easier to handle if I didn't pay attention.

My fights with Cami were all played. The final day was covered in full. We all saw Ruth take charge and defeat Ruby. I watched as I desperately fought with Admyer to get ahead of the crumbling mansion. I saw us tumble down the stairs and swiftly hide from the two other remaining tributes. Cami and Ruth were as brutal as I remembered. I flinched slightly at their final struggle as Cami pushed the sword back into her. As the three of us fought, I found my mind drifting away. I tried to ignore everything about it. Every wound the Charlotte on screen received my body mimicked. By the end of the battle, I found myself with arms wrapped tightly around my stomach in phantom pain. The recap ended dramatically in slow motion. My body fell precariously on top of Admyer. The camera managed to zoom in on my face right as collided into his body. The screen flashed bright red and then to black. Within seconds, the black began to crack. Slowly, rock-like pieces slid away and crumbled. Light burst forth from the background and blinded me. When I looked back, my face was being projected onto the screen. The words "Victor of the 226th Hunger Games" curved themselves underneath my face.

The Capitol broke out into a deafening roar and the lights began to pulse around me. Music swelled dramatically before disappearing again. Europa made a motion to hush the crowd and they obeyed swiftly.

"Charlotte Fern," Europa smiled, "Weren't you a delightful surprise! I can honestly say that no one expected you to be sitting here, but here you are. Doesn't it just feel surreal?"

Her words, although said with a charming tone, confirmed what I already knew. The Capitol was surprised I was their victor. In fact, they very well might be dissatisfied. I fought away the feeling of guilt as I tried to smile even wider.

"It's very overwhelming," I agreed honestly, "I can say that I never could have even imagined this."

"Of course," Europa agreed, "A simple farm girl from District Ten never could."

I bit my tongue, feeling my old attitude beginning to resurface. Was she purposefully trying to dehumanize me? Wasn't her job supposed to make me look like a shiny, pretty victor?

"Tell me, what was the most enjoyable part of this year's games?"

Europa's eyes darted towards her left. I followed her glance and saw that she had been looking at the President. Europa's questions were usually personal. She tried to cut straight to the person underneath and portray them to her audience. I wasn't very knowledgeable when it came to politics, but I could _feel_ a difference in the air. Something had changed. She was asking generic, light questions. Actually, she wasn't even _asking_ me questions. She was practically telling me how I felt or _should_ feel. It was as if she was feeding me answers, something I had never seen her do before. It was almost like she was trying to gloss right over me.

"Probably the tea party," I laughed, playing along, "I loved getting a new outfit to wear."

"Speaking of outfits, I adore what you're wearing!" Europa flowed flawlessly.

"You'll have to thank my stylist for that. I just had to put it on."

Europa laughed gaily and the crowd followed suit. Soon, our conversation turned into a light banter. Europa would bring up a harmless subject, and I would do what I did best. I would crack a joke about it. She avoided anything controversial or emotional, like Adam or other tributes. In fact, she didn't even try to bring up my family until the very end.

"As you know, we are coming to a close and you must head home. Aren't you so ecstatic to see your family and friends again?"

"Ecstatic," I agreed with a fake smile, "I'm so excited to see my mother and father, as well as my close friend Ashton."

"And we all know they must be feeling the same way! How could they not want to see such a sweet, optimistic girl like you?"

Her words stung and almost broke my smile. Instead of hearing _sweet_ and _optimistic_, I heard _insignificant_ and _foolish._ This girl she was describing wasn't real. I would say she died back in the arena, but that wouldn't necessarily be true. I wasn't even sure if she ever existed.

* * *

><p>"We're almost there. Your parents should be waiting at the train station. Try to just ignore the nosy reporters. They'll leave soon enough," Miranda explained.<p>

I nodded as I rubbed my hands together. For the past few days, I had been assaulted with tons of information. People were telling me left and right what I was supposed to do, what I was supposed to wear, and how I was supposed to act. I was being told what my future would be like at the same time as I was being asked how I was feeling. I smiled. I nodded. I obeyed. Then I rinsed and repeated. I found myself doing the one thing in life I had abhorred because I didn't know what else to do. Instead of being my own person, I was just a shell that other people moved. Some part of me desperately wanted to be myself, but I didn't know who that was anymore. In fact, I didn't know if there was anyone in there.

Ever since I left the arena, I couldn't find it in me to _feel_ anything. I wasn't happy that I had won and was alive. I wasn't sad because of the deaths of my fellow tributes. I wasn't angry at anyone or anything because of the situation I was in. I wasn't anything but empty. Then, I thought about the tributes that would have literally _killed me_ to be in my place. Those tributes would be bouncing off the wall because they had gotten what they wanted. Some of them wanted riches and then others just wanted to live, like me. It created this vicious cycle that tore my insides apart like spinning daggers. I went from being empty to being filled to the brim with guilt. Once I moved past it (or tucked it away for later), I was hollow and exhausted again.

It left me in such a state that my heart didn't even skip a beat when I thought of seeing my family. I wasn't worried what they thought of me or relieved that I got to see them again. In my mind, if they thought I was some monster than I was a monster to them. I couldn't find it in me to get worked up over it.

"Hey, you're going to be ok," I heard Wolf murmur, "You're one of us now. We're family."

I nodded as the train began to halt to a stop. As it slowed, I saw everyone stand. I followed and stepped towards the door. I tugged at my wool skirt, still not used to how it felt. As much as I appeared to be a tomboy, I had always been a closeted girly-girl. I loved makeup and fashion, but I never really got the chance to pursue it. It just wasn't practical… And now it was being tossed at me by the truckloads. It was something that would take quite some time for me to get used to.

The door slid open. I was greeted by flashing cameras. I stepped out and smiled just like Muffy had told me before I left the Capitol. I waved once before I continued to walk through the roped off area. Twenty feet ahead of me, I spotted my parents. My father stood tall and strong, as usual. He had his arm wrapped around my mother protectively. I expected to walk to them and for us to exchange hugs. I laughed inwardly at the thought of my mother scolding me for something ill-mannered I did while I was in the Capitol. As I closed the distance, I thought we would do what we always did. We would skirt around any and all problems. My mother would nitpick something unimportant, I would ignore her, and my father would laugh it off.

As I got closer, though, I saw my mother's facial expression. She cleared her throat and raised her hands to her mouth. She suddenly began to shake and tears sprung from her eyes. I stopped midstride, taken aback. For some reason, I hadn't expected this. From ten feet away, I could hear a broken sob. Something inside me broke with it. My mother shrugged off my father's arms and ran towards me. Her hair glinted in the sunlight. Her tears streamed down her face. Those tears were like the first rain after a heavy drought. This dry, hard place inside of me softened immediately. A wellspring of emotions busted forth as she embraced me.

"My baby," she wept repeatedly as she raked her hands through my hair, "My baby, my baby…"

My father lumbered behind her, and I saw small tears in his eyes too. For the first time since I had woken up, I felt something again. My chest convulsed as I croaked out my own sobs. I felt like a small child again, but at the same time like an adult protecting my mother. It was strange, but either way I felt safe. I finally felt like I could let my guard down and breathe.

So on a sunny day in District Ten, in front of hoards of Capitolian reporters, my mother and I sobbed hysterically.

* * *

><p>"Would you like this?" my mother asked as she spun around.<p>

I looked up from my old bed and saw her holding a worn away straw hat. I remembered wearing that summer after summer whenever my hair would frizz from the heat. I never noticed until now how many holes were dotted along the surface. It was almost useless at keeping the sun off one's face at this point.

"Not particularly," I replied as I flipped through several books my mother had practically thrown at me.

After several days of settling in, my mother decided it would be beneficial for me to move all of my old things over to my new house. She had a solid point. Maybe if that house seemed less empty and had more of my things in it I could finally feel like it was my home. Still, after the very first night, I found myself sleeping here in my old room. There was this nostalgic comfort knowing that my parents were only a few doors away from me. At night, it made me feel less alone.

"You love this old thing," she chortled as she tossed it at me, "Every single time I threw it away, you would come tromping through the front door hours later with it on. I couldn't keep the two of you separated."

"I _used_ to love it," I corrected softly as I placed it gently beside me.

She either didn't hear me or ignored my comment as she continued, "And what about your bed sheets? Would you like those? I can go into town and buy new ones for whenever you feel like visiting. They're easily replaceable."

I glanced at the flowery print I was sitting on and shook my head, "I have sheets, mother."

"Of course you do," she smiled, "I just thought I would ask. Oh! And what about-"

"I'm going to get some fresh air," I interrupted as I stood up.

I walked to the door and heard her call out, "Ok! I'll just stay here and keep sifting through some things. When you get back, I would like to talk about the curtains! Maybe you would-"

I drowned out her jabbering as I galloped down the stairs. I marched through the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and slid through the backdoor. I plopped down ungracefully on the backstairs and bit into the dry fruit. It was odd how after eating in the Capitol the food here seemed stale and tasteless. It wasn't that I ever claimed to love eating, but I seemed to notice the strangest things now. My old clothes seemed less colorful than I remembered, the buildings seemed faded, and even my bed felt stiff and uncomfortable.

"Did she finally drive you out," my father teased as he sauntered towards me.

Sweat was streaming down his face and he seemed exhausted. He panted hard as he took a sip of water from a nearby cup.

"If I didn't know any better, I might think she was _trying_ to get rid of me," I joked as he sat down beside me.

"You know your mother," he smiled, "She smothers you because she cares. She's just trying to help you in any way she can think of."

I shook my head and continued to chew on my snack. Being home was harder than I thought it would be. I imagined that I would be able to dive right back in and help around the farm. I thought it might help things seem _normal_ again. However, to my surprise, the first day I tried I couldn't climb on top of a horse. In fact, I could barely corral a single cow, let alone a herd. I asked Miranda what was going on and she explained it sadly. Apparently, when I was brought in my spine was injured. Something called the 'nerve endings' were cut. The Capitol fixed whatever they could the best to their ability, but I was left changed. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I could still walk and bend down to pick things up, but I was fairly inflexible. My back just _wouldn't_ bend some ways and there were things I simply couldn't lift. It wasn't that it caused me any pain. My body just couldn't do it.

"Speaking of help," I commented, "You should really let me hire a hand or two for this farm. You could really use it."

"Now Charlotte, we discussed this," he scolded, "we're not doing that. We aren't taking any of your money."

The one major conflict that I had with my family right now was about money. I had more money than I could ever spend. In fact, I could probably hand it out to people in District Ten by the bucket. However, that wasn't allowed. You could only spend the money you given from winning the games on yourself or your family. However, my family was too proud for that. They didn't believe it was right to take any of it from me.

"You're not taking," I sighed, "I'm giving it to you. Think of it as a gift for all the hell I put you both through over the years."

My dad laughed at the statement; probably reminiscing about all the times I came home late or filthy just to spite my mother. I was never an easy child because I always hated being told how to act or what to do. My parents told me that, ever since I was little, it didn't matter what they did. I always acted in whatever way pleased me. My father took another gulp of water.

After several minutes of silence, my father cleared his throat, "I built that fence while you were gone."

He pointed off in the distance and I nodded. It was the first thing I noticed when I came to visit.

"Every day I spent hours out here. From the minute the sun rose to the second it set. I dug, I hammered, and I repeated. I spent so much time making sure each post and board was one hundred percent straight."

I had noticed that as well. My father had never been a perfectionist. As long as it got the job done, he was pleased. All of our other fences were slightly lopsided or unevenly spaced. This one was perfection.

"And every day, when I walked back to his home, I almost had a heart attack. I just imagined walking in and being greeted by silence. I pictured finding your mother in bed with her arms and legs pressed tightly against her body. Every day, I thought I would walk in and find out that you were gone forever."

My skin prickled as his words skated over me. My father, the strongest man I had ever known, admitted he was scared. He was terrified that he was going to lose me.

"I was usually told at night what happened during the day, but there were times I saw. In the beginning, I just saw my little girl on a television screen. As time kept going, I eventually saw something different. I saw you get this strength that I never thought you had… Hell, I never even thought you _could_ have. You were so determined and tough. At the very end, I had hope. I thought you could come back alive."

I could feel his eyes on me. I knew he was staring, but I refused to look to my left. I didn't want to see what he was feeling. I didn't want to know what he looked like.

"And now you're home. I'm thrilled, blown away even… But you don't seem alive. You don't even look like you're here half the time."

I finally glanced over and saw pure concern. He seemed confused, sad even, that I wasn't who I used to be. He didn't seem to get that I couldn't be his happy, little girl anymore.

"I don't know how to explain it you," I began, "but let me try… The reason I was so determined was _because_ I wanted to come home. Dad, I really, really didn't want to die. I wanted to live no matter what the cost. I was willing to do anything… But then…"

I paused, not sure how I could admit this to my father. I didn't even want to admit it to myself because it made me sound ungrateful. It made me feel like the worst person to ever walk across this land.

"Then I thought I died… And it was so _easy_ to accept. It wasn't as scary as I thought. I didn't have to worry about _anything_ ever again… Now that I'm alive… I don't know how to feel."

"So you want to be dead?"

"No!" I backpedalled, "It isn't that… When I was so majorly injured, I was also in so much pain. As the pain faded away so did the possibility of being alive. I let go of even the notion that I could come home and be a person again. I don't want to be dead, but, Daddy, I don't know how to live anymore either."

He gazed at me with his warm, brown eyes. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and clutched me to him tightly.

"You start by waking up each morning. After that, we'll work our way from there."

* * *

><p>As the weeks passed by, some days were better than others. We moved my things over to my new house. I managed to finally sleep there for at least a couple nights a week. I also finally convinced my father to let me hire some farmhands for him. It was a relief knowing that he wouldn't work himself to death. I also started to build my relationships with some fellow Victors. Wolf enjoyed going on long hikes through the district and Miranda just liked to talk for hours on end.<p>

Some mornings I woke up and felt normal. I would go out, deep in the fields, and find my favorite patch of wildflowers. I would lay in them (sometimes for hours) and just stare at the clouds as they rolled by. It was something I dreamed of doing during my time in the arena, and it was one of the few things that didn't disappoint me when I returned. It was the one place in this whole universe where I seemed to be surrounded by peace.

Then there were other mornings where I couldn't even look in the mirror.

However, this was a good morning for me. I had hiked to an old favorite spot of mine. It was on top of a grassy hill, and I could see the very edge of the town from here. On the top, there were a circle of rocks that I could sit or stand on. Before the games, I used to love to hop around the ring of rocks or roll down the hill at top speed. Now I just enjoyed the view.

"Hey there," someone called.

I tore my gaze away from the waving grass and saw a figure riding closer. As it approached, I noticed it was Ashton. My heart skipped slightly in a very jittery way. We hadn't spoken or seen each other since our goodbye after the Reaping. He had changed. His curly, brown hair that always fell in front of his eyes was now chopped off and short. He seemed to have broader shoulders and more muscles. In only the span of two or three months, he had transformed from a boy to a man. It was strangely painful knowing that we had both changed completely in our time apart.

He swung off his horse and grinned, "I haven't seen you around. How are you doing?"

He took a seat next to me and his horse, Ember, began to graze on some grass.

"You could have always visited."

"I didn't want to bother you," he admitted sheepishly, "Plus, it goes both ways."

I knew he was right. I had never tried to visit him either because I was scared. I didn't want to know whether I had lost him too or not. Some things are better left not knowing.

"I'm fine," I replied, answering his earlier question, "How about you?"

"I'm pretty good. Got a job delivering crates of goods for the market in town. It isn't the best job, but it keeps me busy and gets me off the ranch. It's nice not working for my family."

I nodded in agreement. Silence fell between us; a thing that was very uncommon. After a few minutes of staring at the scenery, he asked, "You walked out here? I don't see a horse anywhere."

"Yeah I did. I'm not able to get on a horse."

"Bullshit! Really?"

I explained to him my situation and he reasoned, "Have you tried getting on one from a fence post or something? You know, like we used to have to do when we were kids? I don't think you would have to bend that much."

"And what if I get thrown off or fall," I countered, "I won't be able to get back on and there might not be a 'fence' around."

"I'm surprised you'd say that. That doesn't sound like you, Char."

I laughed without humor as I replied, "Maybe I've changed my tune since we last talked."

"What's going on," he said immediately, not beating around the bush.

His question, something I hadn't been asked once in that exact way, made me think. What was really going on?

I shrugged as he continued, "You never let anything stop you from doing whatever the hell you want to do. I don't see-"

"I'm different now, Ash," I interrupted, "I don't know where the old Char went, but I don't think she's here anymore."

He shook his head and looked off into the distance. The wind blew past us and caused everything to sway. It was a warm wind; the kind that caressed your skin and brought back good feelings.

"Stop bullshitting me and just tell me what's bothering you."

Instead of avoiding my thoughts, I tried to embrace them. Deflecting everything may work on my parents and people who don't know me very well, but Ash could see right through it. When you've spent most of your life around one person, you get to know them better than yourself… This is why I knew we were both terrified. What if the person we both came to know and love was just… gone?

"You know the girl from District Eight, Asita? She had siblings she needed to go home and take care of. Apollo said his family was in debt and needed money. Admyer and the boy from Nine both had families barely scraping by too. There were a handful of tributes that had things to go back to-"

"You did too," Ash interrupted, "You have your family and me. You-"

"It isn't the same! All of you could move on without me. You don't _need_ me. Your lives didn't hang in the balance depending on whether I came home or not."

My admission brought with it a flood of emotions I had refused to deal with until this moment. Ever since I had won, I avoided thinking of any of the other tributes. There were nights I tried to concentrate so hard that I hoped they might just pop out of existence. I wanted to try to be the happy-go-lucky girl I once was, but I couldn't. Whenever I tried to put myself in that state of mind, I thought of the other tributes… And when I thought of them, I felt nothing but guilt.

"I feel horrible," I continued, "because I wasn't… I'm not as important as some of those kids were. How am I _ever_ going to make my life mean enough to match the value of _all_ of theirs? What can I possibly do to start filling that giant pit?"

My hands began to tremble. I clenched them together desperately as I tried to qualm the shaking. I was tired of feeling so weak and fragile. There were times it felt like if I even tried to work through a single problem I might shatter.

"That's a hard question to answer," Ash replied after sometime, "and I think only you can answer that… But I can tell you right now it _isn't_ by acting like this. The reason you feel so guilt-ridden is because you're just drowning in it. You're not even trying to get back up to the surface."

"And what does this surface look like?"

"Whatever you want it to look like," he shrugged, "It's yours. To us, it used to look like a pretty damn good place."

"I killed a boy and then used his body as bait for a trap. Excuse me when I find it difficult to look at things in a light and happy way."

"I understand you've changed. You've made that abundantly clear… But really what else has?"

I mulled his question around in my brain. To be honest, nothing back home really changed. Everything was still the same as when I left. The only thing that became different was how I viewed it all.

I picked at the grass as I whispered, "We used to see this world as this beautiful place. We saw everyone else as zombies and empty of hope... I used to think that everything would always just 'work out'… But the world _doesn't_ work like that. It didn't work out for twenty-five people… twenty-six if you include the girl who died before the games even started. The rose-tinted glasses are gone now, Ash. The people here aren't hopeless… They're just right."

I looked over at him in time to see him carelessly shrug, "Life isn't perfect. So what? I figured that out the second you were reaped. It doesn't mean that everything is pointless."

Then, as if reading my mind, he stared me straight in the eyes and stated firmly, "_You're_ not pointless."

His words warmed my body like hot stew as I smiled, "You're right. I'm just stupid, like always."

He laughed heartily. It was so relieving to hear that sound after all this time.

"You're not stupid. You just need a little help sometimes."

He winked at held his hand out. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet.

"Listen Char. We both know you're not who you were before all this happened… but the bright side is you can be _whoever_ the hell you want to be. All it takes is some determination, and we both know you have plenty of that. Like I said, nothing has ever stopped you from doing what you wanted. It still applies to this."

"And you'll still be here?" I asked nervously, "No matter who I choose to be… You'll still be here?

He laughed and smiled, "You really _are_ stupid. Of course I'll be here ding-dong! I'm your best friend! Always have, always will be."

His encouragement filled me with something I had needed for some time now; hope. I now had a goal I could strive towards. I didn't want to be this pessimistic, moody, mopey person. I still wasn't sure what I _did_ want… But I could figure that out as it came. Like my father said, I needed to take it one day at a time.

"Now come on," he smiled and walked towards his horse.

"What?"

"We're heading into town. I need to pick up my pay from the market."

I stopped, suddenly insecure. I hadn't gone into the town since I arrived back home. I didn't know what I was afraid of… maybe being judged? I didn't know, but the thought always gave me anxiety. However, Ash turned back around with that same goofy smile he had always possessed.

"Don't you trust me?"

He hopped on Ember effortlessly and trotted over to a nearby large rock. He motioned me over and held a hand out. I stepped onto the rock and looked at him tentatively. He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I'm not going to let you fall."

I smiled and grasped his hand firmly with renewed confidence.

He never had.

* * *

><p>Ash tied his horse to a nearby station. I poked my foot out hesitantly. I felt for the wooden fence and placed my foot firmly on it. I swung my other leg around and did the same. I grabbed a wooden pole and hopped down. My feet slipped, but I managed still land on them. I held my hands out cautiously and smiled.<p>

"See? You're fine."

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the arm, "Whatever. Let's just hurry up and do this."

We began to walk down the familiar road. We bantered back and forth; nudging and poking each other the entire way. My mind wandered freely and happily. It felt like old times… Good times. It was hard not to think of Adam in moments like this. Whenever I laughed so hard my sides ached, even in the slightest, I thought of him. It was weird, because in the arena it had been the opposite. Whenever he made me laugh I thought of Ashton. Either way, I finally realized it was a good thing. These jolts and memories of joy didn't bring shame with them. They barely even stung me with sorrow. All it did was made me happier.

We reached the large market. Stalls filled with various goods were set up in long rows and clumps. You could find almost everything you needed here. It was common to trade the goods you created with others, but money was also used. We had several shops and stores for those that didn't work on a ranch or farm.

"You can just browse. I'll be back in a few minutes," Ash said as he zipped away.

I wanted to call out, slightly frightened, but scolded myself. I was in a market filled with busy people. The games had been months ago… Nothing bad was going to happen to me. In fact, people were probably happy for me. For the most part, I didn't do anything dastardly and I brought back extra food for the entire district.

With this new (gasp) optimistic thought, I began to sift through the stalls. I occasionally picked things up and got a closer look, but never ended up buying anything. At this point, there wasn't anything I needed or wanted. I didn't really cook and I had plenty of 'things' now. I thought about getting some gifts but decided against it for right now. It would give me another reason to force myself to come back into town. It would healthier if I got out and interacted with people more.

"I wondered when I would see you again."

I glanced up from a brooch I was looking at and turned around. Standing nearby was a girl with the most sour expression on her face. Petunia, with her sleek black hair, glared daggers at me. Her usual posse was smaller, consisting of only one other friend. They must have just decided to go out for a walk or perhaps were browsing like me.

"You haven't really showed your face around here."

Her voice wasn't as nasally as I remembered. Maybe I had always just imagined it because of the distain I had for her. In all honesty, though, I hadn't thought of her once since the Reapings. I remembered our argument and how nasty she acted when I was called up to the stage. It was all so irreverent now.

When I didn't respond, she sneered, "I really thought you were going to die in there. You would have deserved it. In fact, I _wish_ you had."

Her words were the very thing I had feared since coming back. I was so scared that my family, Ash, or even a stranger would say these things. I had this fear that if someone told me this then it would magically be true.

Yet, it meant nothing. What she just said didn't change a thing. I still was here. I _deserved _to be here. I mean, so did everyone else… But if even Cami, a murdering Career I had hated, deserved to still be alive then so did I. Just because someone else thought otherwise didn't mean it was true.

My mind raced for a response. Several horrible things raced through my mind. I knew a few things I could say that would crush her. Actually, I could grab her scrawny neck and _physically_ crush her. As I thought of another dark thought, I stopped. This is something the old Charlotte would have done. She would have fought back and given back twice the attitude and rudeness she received. Instead of turning the other cheek, she would have hit back even harder.

I didn't like that.

If I wanted to change, I had to start now. I didn't want to be mean anymore. Not to say I had ever been especially mean to many people, but there were a few I was downright nasty to. I didn't want to be like that anymore. I wanted to be kind.

One thing I could do to make up for everything that had happened was be kind. I didn't want to send out any more negative energy than had already been spread. I had witnessed, and been a part of, enough pain to last the world a century… And it was set to happen every year for the rest of my life. If I could push against that, even in the smallest ways, I then was accomplishing something.

I was making a difference.

"I'm sorry about what I said about Dana. I had no right. No one deserves to die in the Hunger Games."

Petunia gawked at me, surprised by my apology. Not only was it unlike me, but it was considered treason. What we both recognized is that I _didn't_ apologize for ever being unkind to her. She had started this feud. I had only retaliated. I wasn't going to do that anymore, but I also wasn't going to recant how I had acted either.

At quickly as she was shocked, she was snarky again. She jeered, "That's rich coming from you. In fact, I bet-"

"Hey, lay off," someone barked.

I turned to my right to see Ashton storming towards us. His face was clouded with anger and I could see how protective he was being.

"You still have your lapdog? Didn't he get the memo you're a psycho?"

Ashton raised his voice and began to curse. Before he could say anything substantial, I placed my hand on his arm. He quieted immediately, giving me a strange look. I turned behind me and tossed several coins at the merchant. He caught them greedily. I walked up to Petunia and reached forward. Both she and her friend leaned back, as if they were afraid. Maybe they were… Maybe they thought I was going to choke them to death or bash them.

I poked the pin through Petunia's delicate dress and clasped the brooch.

"Take it. It looks pretty with your hair."

With that comment, I spun around and walked away from Petunia. Whenever we confronted each other, I always got the last word.

This time wasn't any different.

* * *

><p>I didn't dread waking up every day now. Not only did I spend time outside and with my fellow victors, but I took up some other activities. I began to knit and sew with my mother. I rode horses with both my father and Ashton. Sometimes I tagged along with Ashton while he worked and kept him company. Other times, I stayed in the market. I got to know several of the merchants fairly well and even helped one of them with their stall. She sold mainly flowers and taught me how to care for them. As of now, I had started a small flower garden behind my home in the Victor's Village. It was progressing slowly, but she told me it showed all the signs of being healthy. I was excited for when they would bloom and I could spend hours surrounded by them. Maybe I would sell some or just decorate my home with them.<p>

I found myself laughing constantly while I gardened. I used to say all the time that I wasn't what you would consider the prettiest flower in the field. It was almost a motto of mine. Now I was trying to grow them.

However, today was a cloudy day. The sun was hidden, which was a blessing for all of the ranchers. It kept them, and the animals, cool. However, it made it less than appealing to me to spend hours outside lazing about or gardening. I sat in my childhood home with my mother. She was knitting something, but I had set mine aside a long time ago. She had the patience to sit here and do the repetitive steps. I could bring myself to do it if I was outside, but inside my mother was constantly telling me to stop tapping my foot or jiggling my chair. It was better for both our sanities if I just stopped.

Things had been going very well in my life. Not only was I more active and enjoying myself, but I was working through things. I had found time to mourn for those I missed and felt responsible for. I still dreaded the Victor Tour and seeing all of the families that didn't get their children or siblings back, but I was hoping to be able to handle that problem when it came. There were still occasional times where I almost felt crippled with guilt, but they were getting fewer and farther in between. I even (for now) found the ability to forgive myself for the things I had done in the arena. Even through all this, there was still one thing that was a big struggle.

I was still working towards being a happier, healthier person. Surprisingly enough, she seemed a lot more like the old Charlotte than I thought. You might even be able to say she was a new and improved version with the help of Ash and my fellow victors. A 'better' version, if you will. However, the one thing stunting this was my mother. I felt like she was still acting like nothing had happened… Like I was still the same girl I was before. It was annoying, aggravating, and scary all at the same time. I was all these things because I felt obligated to please her, but I wanted to tell her everything I was feeling at the same time. The only thing that held me back was fear… I was afraid once she realized I was different, I might lose her.

Who wants a screwed up daughter?

The television caught my eye and someone strolled out of a building. Cameras flashed blindingly as the person smiled and waved. She was almost unrecognizable with her shaved head and light frame, but the reporter filled in the blanks.

"Lorie Regigas was just released from the Asylum today. We were told it was based off of her good behavior, speedy recovery, and almost full embrace of her treatment. After her release, President Raven confirmed that Ophelia Pendragon and Memory Summit were still in recovery. She told us both were still struggling, but she was hoping for the best."

"Huh, she looks different," my mother commented as she knitted away.

"Yeah. She almost looks like a different person."

My mother nodded in agreement. My face flushed slightly. She could so easily see and agree that someone she had never even met had changed, but she was blind to it in her own daughter?

"Of course, she would be. No one goes through something like that and stays the same," I poked.

My mother cleared her throat. Her fingers began to writhe even faster as she cleverly looped the thread through itself.

"I'm not the same," I stated.

She clinked her needles together and stood up, "Would you like some lemonade? I'm parched."

As she walked away, I stood up as well, "Why won't you _listen_ to me! I've changed, mother! I can't keep sitting down for family meals with you and dad and pretend everything is the same! We need to talk about this! I can't-"

"What do you want me to say," she interrupted sharply.

"Anything" I yelled in exasperation, "I just want you to acknowledge that I've changed… That I won the Hunger Games and-"

"Fine! You changed! What does that-"

"I'm not the same anymore! I'm not-"

"do? What the _hell_ does that accomplish! I don't-"

"the same girl I was months ago! I'm not-"

"understand! Does saying that make you happy!"

"your daughter anymore!"

Our final shouts echoed through the old house. We stared at each other. My heart was so loud I thought the entire district could hear it. I finally said the one thing I was most terrified of. I told my mother I wasn't the daughter she had always wanted me to be… I wasn't that girl. Tears filled her eyes and I saw her knitting needles had been thrown to the floor some time during our screaming match.

"Of _course_ you're my daughter," she choked.

"No I'm not, mo-"

"Let me finish!"

Her shout rang out unexpectedly. I half expected my father to walk in with a pitchfork or knife.

"Was that really what you thought? That if you didn't think or act exactly how I wanted… You thought that meant you're not my daughter Charlotte, you will _always_ be my daughter. Nothing in this entire universe could change that! Nothing could ever change how much I love you."

My chest began to rise and my vision blurred. I tried to process her words without breaking down.

"You are family. The love I have for you is in my _blood_. It's this deep emotion etched into you… it's this love that is so potent it _hurts_. Nothing can erase that."

This time a sob broke out and I choked. She approached me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Bu-u-ut I don't even kno-ow who I am right now. I-I-I can… What if-if-"

"It doesn't matter who you are or who you choose to be. I love you. I love all of you: the good, the bad, and the flawed," she stated firmly.

I continued to cry as she stroked my hair, "When you were reaped, my heart broke. Every day you were gone, it kept breaking. It didn't stop hurting until the _second_ I saw you safe and sound. All I want is for you to be safe and happy. However you choose to achieve that, I don't care. I will always love you, and I will continue to say that and feel that until the day I die."

I clung to her tightly and soon we were both crying. I was so foolish to think that she wouldn't love me. My mother had always been critical and tough, but she did it _because_ she cared. I knew that, I was just too stupid to accept it until now.

Soon enough, we both managed to put ourselves together. I thought about all the mothers and fathers who didn't get this chance. Their child was reaped and they never got to see them again. They didn't get the chance to ever feel this again.

"Now, let's see to that lemonade," my mother coughed as she wiped away our remaining tears.

As she shuffled away, I couldn't help but feel overjoyed. She had something that made sense to me. She loved me: the good, the bad, and the flawed. I wanted to have my mother's kindness and love. I wanted to possess my father's strength and work ethic. I wanted Ashton's optimism and confidence. There were so many traits I wanted and strived for that I saw in not only these people, but Wolf, Miranda, Adam, and even Petunia.

I didn't have them yet… And that was ok. Even if I never fully possessed them, it would all be ok because I would still be loved.

I wasn't worthless just because I wasn't perfect.

* * *

><p>"Remember this is supposed to be a celebration," Miranda reminded for the hundredth time as we stepped onto the train.<p>

I nodded, still trying to ignore the fact this was happening. So many things had changed in the past six months. I found that I was almost completely different from the person who had come home from the Hunger Games. I was scared that, after this tour, I would regress back into a shell of a person. I just wanted to stay in the safe haven I had created. I wanted to stay surrounded by the people I loved and things I cared about.

"I know it's scary," Miranda sympathized, "One family threw a rock at me right before I entered the Justice Building."

"Not helping," I replied immediately.

"The point is Wolf and I are right here. We're going to get through this."

I nodded and sat down on a soft couch. One thing I had missed slightly was the luxury of the Capitol. I couldn't bring myself to hate something that made me so comfortable.

"The thing is," Miranda continued as she sat next to me, "no one can understand what it's like in the arena. Not your family or your friends... Certainly not others that have lost someone because of them. They don't understand that the time you spend in there is completely different than every other part of your life. It's what I imagine being on another planet would be like. You do things and think things that would never happen if you weren't in that situation. People just don't understand that."

Her words comforted me and I patted her hand. She was right. The dark, sinister thoughts I had in the arena rarely haunted me now. There were times I saw someone and thought of bashing their skull into a wall. Sometimes, when I held a pitchfork or knife, my fingers tingled and I thought about stabbing something. These were reflex thoughts that I always pushed away quickly. I didn't want to think those kinds of things _ever_, but I also couldn't stop it. It was a part of me now. It was something I had to accept.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," I replied meekly.

Miranda laughed and nudged me, "Lighten up. Your job right now is to smile and have fun at parties that are all about you. It doesn't sound that bad when you put it like that, right? Just be the same Charlotte I've come to know and everyone will love you. People can't _dislike _nice people. It's against our nature."

I laughed with her. Wolf and Muffy both entered from another car just as the train started moving.

"You both seem to be having a good time," Wolf smirked as he sat on top of a table.

"Are you jealous?" I ask.

"Always," he laughed.

"If you wouldn't mind," Muffy interjected softly, "I would like to discuss the plans for the Victory Tour with you. Times, schedules, outfits… That sort of thing."

I nodded and followed her as she walked past me. We passed through several train cars until we came to the room I had stayed in previously. She popped open the door and we strolled in. Laid across the large bed and hung from an array of furniture were different outfits. They were all dresses, which made me cringe slightly, but were all beautiful. They shimmered exquisitely and were cut attractively. Only the best for the newest victor, I guess.

"Usually you don't get to choose, but we have some extras this year," Muffy prattled as she swiped through her electronic pad.

I walked up to several and began to examine them. She began to tell me information that I would find out on my own regardless. Things like when the train would arrive at different locations and who I would meet. She gave me some background information to different Mayors and Victors. I tried to listen, but I soon lost interest. I respected that this was her job, but it didn't make it any less boring for me.

"….first arrive in District Thirteen. After that evening, we'll hop over to District Eleven, then Nine, Seven-"

"Wow," I interrupted, jolted back to attention, "Wait. We're missing some Districts in there Muffy. What about District Twelve? And Eight?"

Muffy slid her finger back up the pad and then flicked her hair, "We'll be skipping those this year, along with District Three."

"Why?" I asked in astonishment.

She looked up at me with cold, calculating eyes. I found myself surprised, never seeing this side of Muffy before.

"The official reason is maintenance. The rails were deemed unsafe and are being repaired. That being said, you obviously can't visit them if you can't reach them. I suppose there are the hovercrafts, but that could be seen as being too expensive."

I stared at her guardedly. Muffy was speaking of things as if they were fiction. I was wary to ask the obvious question.

"And the unofficial reason?" I managed to sputter out.

She looked at me again, this time almost with pity. It was that expression an adult gave a child when they were about to shatter some part of their innocence… Like telling them someone had died. Barely above a whisper, she uttered words that filled me with both terror and hope at the same time.

"They're rebelling."

* * *

><p><strong>This was, by the far, the longest victor chapter I have ever written. Let's start with eulogies (If you don't want to read this I completely understand. Skip to the last line break and read on from there)<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Ruth- <strong>I wanted you to win. If I had to pick a personal favorite from this story; a tribute who I personally adored and 'bonded' with it would be you. Although many people _did not_ like you (and I understand why) I loved you. You were this conflicting, emotional, _realistic_ person. Likeable was not one of those words, but so many people in the real world aren't. Out of all the tributes, I struggled the most with you to write and create you… But when I did, I was blown away. Every single time you surprised me and I found myself revising, rewording, and (yes) rewriting your point of view. However, the reason you didn't win was because how much I loved you. At the end, you reached the highest peak of your character development. You changed into that 'better' person you wanted to be. If you would have won, you would have regressed as a character because _that's who you are_. You are this person ruled by their emotions who acts and thinks according to them. If you would have won, you would have struggled and been brought back to who you were maybe even before you were reaped. There would have been times you would have been the girl who died in the arena, but they would have been glimpses… and I couldn't do that to you. I loved you too much for that. Rest well and I will always think of you.

* * *

><p><strong>Cami- <strong>I wanted you to win. You were this unstoppable force… So strong, confident, and clever… This anti-villain who was so corrupt, egotistical, yet lovable. I adored you and you are probably one of my favorite Careers (if not the favorite) one I have ever created. In fact, there was a long time where I thought 'Yes, you are my victor. You are everything I want'. You would have gone home, been exactly who you always are, and blown everyone away. You would have been this amazing victor and I'm saddened we will never see that. The reason you didn't win was because of what I always do. Just like Jordana, I put your body through hell. You fought through it bravely, but realistically you wouldn't have survived those wounds. Of course I'm the writer and can stretch/take creative license, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted to stick to what I've always stuck to and that it to create a reasonably realistic fictional story. It is a blurry line and it is extremely hard to follow, but I try. I learned a lot from you, though. I learned what it is like to be strong and to love yourself, even if you are a horrible person. You're strength leaked through into how I wrote other characters and they wouldn't have been/be who they are today if I had never written you. I thank you for that. I thank you for helping me grow as a writer and it hurts to say goodbye. You are another I will always think of fondly and constantly when writing

* * *

><p><strong>Admyer- <strong>I wanted you to win. You were this tribute that I've never written well. You were the kind of character/person who is very subtle… And consistent subtly is not my strong point. I like to be _dramatic_ and have huge realizations and huge cliffhangers. And that just wasn't you. You didn't have this big changes or realizations. Whether people noticed it or not (I certainly didn't until recently) you were this unique character that changed _every_ point of view. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but it was there. Whether it be because of your loneliness/pessimism, Winnie's happiness/optimism, or the environment you were in, something always changed. It was a beautiful thing, looking back on it. The reason you didn't win isn't a simple one. I sat down and really thought about what it would be like if you won and went home. I thought about your family and your home and then I thought about Charlotte in the same way. This is probably my fault as a writer/creator and I will learn from it in the future, but you didn't have anything. I thought about what I would write about and nothing came to mind. It would be kind of like when Ethan won. You'd go home and I'd have to create something for you to interact with. Just like I said, there wouldn't be big changes and huge character developments in your epilogue chapter. You just don't work like that. In the end, I chose Charlotte (that will be explained in the next little section) but it was a hard choice. This entire story was a hard choice for me. There were so many characters I loved and wanted to win. I will always remember you as my little surprise and will think of you fondly.

* * *

><p><strong>Victor's Statement:<strong>

**Charlotte- **Although Admyer was my little surprise; you certainly were my big one. I hate to admit it, but I will. Originally, I thought of and planned you to be a bloodbath. What a horrible event would that have been! That all changed when I allied you and Adam and I'm certainly glad I did. As people have said, you were a 'background' character. So many tributes had these fantastic storylines and dynamic personalities that both you and Adam were 'put in the background'. I wouldn't call it that, but I will admit there was a time your sole purpose was comedic. Then everything changed a chapter or two before Adam died. You went from this sweet, funny girl to this growing woman. You I sent you to the brink of insanity and then brought you back. Even I didn't expect that, when I did, you would be so strong and determined. You became this character that I adored (I had always adored you though). You showed this strength that seemed to blow EVERYONE away because no one ever expected it. If someone like Cami, Ruth, Valhalla, Apollo, Asita (the list goes on and on) had shown this, many people wouldn't have batted an eye. But you showing this was shocking (even to me). The reason you won is complex as well. When I thought about you winning, it was very clear just like when I thought of Cami. I knew exactly who you would talk to and what conversations you would have with these people. I knew what your deepest fears, struggles, and changes would be. I knew how you would start out (void, broken, empty) and how you would end up (happy, kind, fulfilled, growing). I knew you needed others to build you up and help restore you, which was very unique to many of my other tributes/victors. I knew all this and I had to create it and see it happen. I couldn't let it go… I couldn't let _you_ go. I love all of my victors and _almost_ all of my tributes, but you are one I share some sort of bond with. Maybe it's because you're unique. Maybe it's because you aren't. Maybe it's because of all the change. Maybe it's because of the similarities. It could be many, many things, but there is one thing I do know.

It is because you are Charlotte Fern.

* * *

><p><strong>As hard as this might be to imagine, this isn't the last chapter. There will be a part three and it will be our lovely Victory Tour. You might be asking "Why? There is so much here! I don't wa-" <strong>

**Ssssshhhhh my child**

**The reason is because there are still questions to be answered. And, I promise, I will switch some things up. I know this was a lot of Charlotte this chapter and the final one won't consist of just her point of view. After the next chapter, we'll be done and it almost breaks my heart. After I finish this story, I won't be accepting new tributes ****until the 227****th**** Hunger Games is posted****. It will be soon after, don't worry, but will have some detailed information to add on and I think might revamp my tribute form (or not. We'll see). **

**I know all of you are excited and so am I. As I have said in the past, this is your final chance to catch up in reviews ****if you decide to submit for my final SYOT****. I don't expect you to review every chapter, but I expect to see enough to know that you'll be committed to our journey through my final story… Because it might be a long one. I hope you're as excited as I am about this chapter and the next. I spent a lot of time on this one and I assure you the same will be spent on the next one. **

**Also, I am going to be writing a chapter for a charity. They are Fandom For Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It is a nice charity that takes stories submitted by FF authors. Our fans can (for a small donation) read said chapter and all the money goes to help these causes. So, I'm leaving this up to you. In your review, tell me what you would like me to write. It could be a scene already written from someone else's point of view or maybe one that as glossed over in one of my stories. I could also just write an original one-shot. I am leaving it up to you.**

**Please leave a nice little review for me. I always appreciate it.**

**See you later,**

**Europa**


	60. The Epilogue: Part Three: Death by Death

**The Epilogue: Death by Death**

**Part Three:**

**District Nine:**

**Lorie's POV:**

"What to wear, what to wear," I sang as I rummaged through my clothes.

When I came back to District Nine, my house was exactly how I left it. It was a complete and utter disaster. Sometimes I had a maid come by and _try_ to clean it up, but she would only make a dent. At this rate, I'd need an entire team of people to bring some sort of order to this home.

"What should I wear to greet the new victor?" I slurred as I tossed a sheer dress across the room.

I wanted something glamorous, yet understated. This little party wasn't about me, but I still wanted to garner some attention. I felt I deserved a little loving after all I had been through recently. I picked up a wrinkled, discarded dress and shrugged. It was pretty enough, I suppose.

As I peeled off my current layers and changed, I tried to focus on the things I had control over. I could control what I wore, how I looked, and where I went. I had control over me… At least for the time being. I kicked piles of things out of my way as I stomped over to my vanity. I began to apply heaps of makeup. I tried to brush away the fragility and sickliness I had acquired in the recent months. It was hard and took many coatings of makeup, but I eventually looked somewhat normal.

I rummaged to my left and pulled out a fuzzy object. Ever since I had lost my hair, I had been obsessed with wigs. They were these different tufts of material that Capitolians sometimes wore to switch things up. Some of them even wore them all the time. I used to find them slightly disturbing, but now I understood the allure of them. I'd rather look fake than horrible.

I adjusted the dark purple hairpiece upon my head. It was cutoff right at the base of my neck and then inclined downwards the closer it got to the front. It wasn't one of my favorites, but it did go with my dress fairly well.

I waded through the waste in my house, stumbling over bottles of beer and moisturizer. I finally reached the front door and shoved it open. Everything felt like such a battle now. As soon as I met the public air, however, I straightened myself out. I pulled back my shoulders and walked with long, confident strides. I sashayed across Victor's Village and out of the gates. As I made my way through the familiar streets, I embraced the looks I got from many. Before I used to be the bitchy Victor that you avoided. Now I was the bitchy Victor who supposedly went crazy.

"Watch out, I might snap your neck," I called out to a group of boys who were eyeing me obviously.

They scampered away like a pack of rodents. As I reached the Justice Building, my legs began to throb. All I wanted was to sit down and have a nice drink. That was a huge part of the reason I was even attending this little party. The best booze in the district for free was an offer I could never refuse. As I entered the building, I tried not to judge their mediocre décor. It was the best this district had to offer. It wasn't their fault we weren't rich like the Capitol.

I had arrived late (per usual) and the party was in full swing. Politicians babbled like buffoons as their rich daughters danced the night away. I laughed, finding it funny I used to be one of those girls. As I crossed the room towards the bar, I noticed there were far less people here than usual. Like I said, if you were invited you usually just came. It was kind of a given.

I shrugged the thought away as I ordered my first of, hopefully, many drinks. I sometimes wondered if I was an alcoholic, but I usually banished the idea of it away. I had been drinking since middle school. Alcohol was just a part of my life. Even if I was an alcoholic, I was at least a functioning one. It had been many years since I had been able to get blackout drunk.

My drink was handed to me and the liqueur spread warm shivers through my body. The Capitol had better, but I had never been able to get this kind of stuff when I was a teen. I would have killed for this beverage when I was younger.

Speaking of killing…

My eyes searched the room for the star of the evening. I found her quite quickly talking to one of the victors of this district. Charlotte seemed happy. She was smiling and laughing at whatever the two of them were talking about. It was odd. She wasn't pretty by any means, and yet she seemed to take up the entire room. She had this air about her that drew you to her. As she smiled, I knew that had to be that. Her happiness made her somewhat attractive and approachable…

No one seemed genuinely happy anymore.

* * *

><p>The time flew by as I knocked back several drinks. I made good conversation with the bartender. They always seemed to end up being my <em>bestest<em> friends. We always got along so well.

I passed another glance back to the center of the room and thought about dancing. Maybe I could be one of those spoiled, rich girls again.

Right when I was about to get up, a voice chimed, "Do you have any… uhm… well, it's bubbly but not alcoholic. My mentor once told me it was used to help with stomachaches? What was it called…? Uh…"

"She wants ginger ale," I interrupted.

The bartender smiled and scurried off to retrieve some. I looked to my left, already knowing who would be sitting beside me.

"Thanks," Charlotte smiled, "I'm horrible with remembering names for certain things. Like-"

"No problem," I flicked my hand back and forth as I desperately hoped to avoid her babbling.

"Ok," she responded as she waited.

As I observed her, I felt a mixture of jealousy and anger. Here was this happy little victor who didn't have a single worry in the world. No one really cared about her. She got all the perks of being one of us but none of the drawbacks. I knew she would never have to pay the price many of us had.

"Nice speech," I commented. She snapped out of her thoughts and gave me a confused look, "I'm referring to the one where you spoke about my dead mentee."

I could hear the venom of my thoughts leaking through my words and it showed. Her expression cracked slightly at my tone.

"I'm… I'm sorry about Hawk. I… I apologize if his death has hurt you or-"

"Oh I don't _care_," I assured as I giggled, "I'm not one of those mentors who throw little tantrums every time their tributes die. In fact, I didn't even like the guy that much. He was always watching people… Kind of gave you the creeps."

Charlotte nodded, not sure how to respond to _my_ drunken ramblings. Wait, I was the one rambling? Usually, I would find it in myself to care… But I didn't.

"Believe me," I continued, "I'm the last one to judge. Hell, I killed my own district partner to raise my odds in the games. There's nothing you can say or do that will 'hurt' me."

I suddenly found her compassion towards the 'pain she may have caused me' hilarious. I began giggling uncontrollably. The bartender returned with another drink for me and Charlotte's ginger ale. She wrapped both hands around the glass and sipped lightly at it.

"You know, I used to be just like you," I pointed, "I could have done whatever I wanted. My family had the money. I didn't need to resort to _crime_ or _marriage_ to start my life. I could have gotten any kind of job in this entire district… I once actually considered becoming an event planner. Shocking, I know. Me have a real job? That thought seems too out there… But I could have seen myself throwing events like this one. I would have been good at it to…"

I droned on and on for some time. Charlotte could have left and I doubt I would have noticed. I was listening to myself talk more than anything else. The flowing syllables connecting together like pieces of a puzzle brought me comfort. They kept me in reality. I gloated about the kind of girl I was. I talked about my dreams and hopes… What I could have done with my life. I found myself drawing many comparisons between us. How we were rich, determined, spoiled, feisty…. The list really went on and on. Whether we were _really_ similar, I didn't know. It was just comforting to find things in common with another human on this world.

"So what stopped you?"

Her words interrupted the ebb of my thoughts. With annoyance, I exited my own haven and processed her words.

"Huh?"

"I mean, you can still do some of those things… Your life isn't just over. Why don't you do them?"

Her naivety sent me into hysterical laughter. My entire body shook and my cackles bounced off the walls. I could feel the tears streaming down my face as I was overcome by the humor of it all.

I finally sobered up enough to say, "Charlotte, your life is over the second your name is called out. You don't get to have _choices_ anymore. You just get to sit, rot, and wait until you're dead."

"I don't believe that," she murmured.

With jealousy I realized, "You don't have to because it doesn't affect you. _You_ get to live the rest of your life with the freedom to choose because _they_ don't care what you do."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at me with the eyes of a newborn. She had no idea what I was rambling about and she never would. For some victors, like her, as long as they don't say anything downright stupid they're fine. The Capitol and the President don't really care. Sure, they want an update on how life is going every now and then, but they forget. The victors like Charlotte just don't stand out on the camera. Even if they're likable in person it doesn't matter... If you're not pretty enough, strong enough, or smart enough…. If you're just _average _they don't care_._ What a blessing that would be.

"You won't get it," I replied honestly, "We may be alike in _many_ ways, but you're not that pretty and you're not that smart."

Before I could say anything else, she grabbed her drink and stood up.

"Oh come on," I called as she walked away, "Don't listen to me. I'm the crazy one, remember? Don't get all offended."

All eyes were on us as she turned around. Even the people who were the best at being discreet were staring at us openly.

"I really hope you find some joy, Lorie. I hope that you can have a healthy, happy life."

Her words that were meant to be encouragement served as a cruel reminder. Instead of laughing or even replying, I stood up. I swayed slightly and decided to kick off my heels. I walked across the silent room barefoot. My feet slapped across the cold ground loudly. The chatter soon began again, but by that time I was out the door. I wasn't destined to have a _healthy_, _happy_ life anymore.

Those _bastards_ in the Capitol made me sick… And if I wanted the cure that kept me alive every month, I had to do exactly what the President said. I had to go around singing _praises_ about the very people who ruined my entire existence. Raven didn't want to wipe our memories because we were to be her examples… They strapped me to a wall, injected me full of disease for months, and then sent me off into the world never to 'rebel' again. I was now just a husk… A sick, dying husk… And the sad thing was, I apparently got off easy because I was the 'lesser' offender.

Only God knows what they did to Memory, the 'bigger' offender.

* * *

><p><strong>District Four:<strong>

**Ethan's POV:**

All of us stood through the square. The sun was beating down on our bodies. We waited and waited and continued to wait. The escort had already made her small speech as well as the Mayor. I squinted as I observed the families seated on raised platforms. Oceana's family was cramped on their platform. Both of her parents looked hollow while her two brothers seemed to be fidgeting nervously. Leith's family only consisted of his parents. His father looked almost identical to the strong, stoic Career while his mother was small and meek. I remembered how I was the apathetic Career… It was almost like seeing my own family up there… Except these parents seemed to care.

Soon, the doors opened and the new victor strolled into the sunlight. She was wearing a billowy blue dress with hues of purple and green. Her belt was tied tightly around her midriff, holding the dress to her. The dress honestly didn't seem to suite her. She seemed uncomfortable in the expensive outfit. As she approached the podium, she cleared her throat lightly.

"Hello District Four," she recited as she read from a card.

I didn't know whether she wrote it herself or not. During my victory tour, I was told what to say at everything, but no one thought I was charismatic enough to use my own words.

"Thank you for those who came today. I wanted to say a few words about the tributes that came from here. I never knew either of them personally, but they both still stand out in my mind."

The crowd shifted uncomfortably. Neither of the tributes this year were particularly liked back home. Leith was always so callous to everyone. He was this silent guy that barely every talked. As for Oceana… Her reputation in this district was tarnished. Everyone knew her as the girl who watched her brother die… Some say she actually killed him (although I knew that could never be true after mentoring her).

"Leith was a determined man. He was terrifying, to say the least, but he fought so hard to win. The memory that comes to mind when I think of Oceana is the days spent in training, actually. I remember every time I looked over at her she had some sort of smile on her face. She was one of the very few people who not only seemed content, but kind. Maybe this is considered a weakness, but she never tried to threaten or intimidate other people. She just went with the flow, much like the ocean that surrounds us here today."

Charlotte's words continued to float among the crowd. I could tell that the carefully crafted phrases weren't written by her. The Charlotte Panem had seen didn't have the elegance needed… But the intent and emotions were honest. She meant what she was saying, even if someone else had helped with the writing. Her speech ended and the crowd applauded politely. Although most didn't seem to care, I found myself slightly affected. Charlotte reminded me of something I had all but forgotten since the games had ended. My tributes weren't just players in the Hunger Games.

They were people too.

* * *

><p>"Ethan, would you care to take a scenic walk?"<p>

The question was posed by Traya as she sat casually on the railing. Her hair was flowing in the breeze as she crossed her legs.

"Atton is watching Fiora while I attend this little celebration. It would be nice to stroll by the ocean on the way there. I never get to do that anymore… But I would enjoy it so much more if someone were to join me."

Traya eyed my wife and me pointedly. She and I had always been on good terms. She had been nothing but sweet towards me since I had won. In fact, Alicia and I often baked treats for her youngest child, who was a bit of a surprise to the middle-aged couple. Still, we had never been close and certainly never spent time alone.

"My feet are killing me from standing around all day," Alicia stated, picking up on how the invitation was extended to me, "But I'll meet you both there."

"Are you sure?" I asked as she placed a kiss on my cheek.

"Enjoy the view enough for the both of us," she smiled as she began to walk away.

Traya hopped off the railing and nudged my arm. I held it out and she looped hers through mine. We began walking down a private path out of the Victor's Village. This path led directly to the beach and was only supposed to be used by the ones that lived here. Traya kicked off her sandals and grabbed them with her other hand. We stepped onto the beach and began to walk along the ocean. The water was glass reflecting bouncing lights.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke casually, "The lovely thing about this party is that everyone's attention is drawn to it. Not a single reporter or camera will be out here. It's not like any microphone could pick up our conversation by the roaring waves anyways."

I nodded, not sure how else to respond. My gut already told me what she wanted to talk about, but my heart hoped I was wrong. I didn't know what I wanted to do anymore. I didn't know where I stood…

"According to Lavender, Ophelia is dead," Traya stated bluntly.

She let this revelation sink in. Although I wasn't especially close with the woman, I still felt some ounce of grief. She was not only a good leader, but a good friend to a lot of people.

"What about Memory?"

Traya shrugged as she dipped one foot into an approaching wave, "Apparently she hasn't seen her since the day the games ended. She's been trying to avoid the topic to keep suspicion away… Although, I don't think she has anything to worry about."

"Is she really on our side?"

She shrugged again as she said, "She's against the Capitol and their petty ways. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. She needs us and we need her. For now, we can trust her."

I shook my head, "I'm so confused. I didn't even know you were a part of this."

Traya began to say something and paused. She thought about her words carefully before she said, "That was the point. Ophelia was a very smart woman, Ethan. She knew the odds of getting caught were extremely high… She just didn't care what happened to her anymore. She knew that, if we got caught, everything would be brought down with her. She didn't want the entire rebellion to shatter."

"What did she do?"

"She made different factions," Traya stated, "She created several different groups with different leaders. There are more victors involved than you think."

"How does that help anything," I asked, "Why divide us?"

"I already told you," she responded, "If one person got caught, we all were. The way she created it was so that no one knew about the others. I had no idea you were a part of this either until the day before she was killed. She was trying to protect as many of us as she could."

I nodded in understanding. At her core, Ophelia was a mother. Her main concern was always for our safety. She cared about everyone involved, even if she didn't personally know you.

"Thanks for the information, but why are you telling me this? What's the point?"

"Lavender finally told me, Agatha, and Felix what her plan is… It's going to happen very soon and we need to be whole now. We need everyone to rally together at the right time."

"What is it?" I asked, now wanting to know what this 'plan' was that made it so important.

"I… I promised Lavender that information wouldn't leave the room. I'm not going to cross her, even if she'll never find out."

"I… I understand," I huffed in frustration.

"What I _can_ tell you is that it affects everyone," Traya murmured, "It's starting something that has never happened before. It's going to shock, anger, and frighten everyone. Hell, many people may even be happy about it… But it's going to create unrest... More disorder than there already is."

"You're referring to the districts," I stated. Everyone knew that Charlotte hadn't visited a few… Something unheard of.

"That was our job," Traya explained, "Felix and I spread as much doubt secretly through the people as we could. In District Three, Felix managed to get almost the entire district furious. They've been mistreated and abused for so long that it wasn't difficult. District Twelve was my doing. I found a small group of the rebels and convinced them that now was the time to start fighting back. It's spreading slowly, but people are being swayed to their cause."

"And District Eight?" I asked when she didn't mention it.

"Now that wasn't our doing," Traya smiled, "They were the first to riot and it didn't even involve any of our influence. During the games, a boy attacked a Peacekeeper. He was one of the siblings of the girl from that district, Asita. It was the day after her death and apparently the Peacekeeper had made some remark to him. The man then dragged the boy to the square and gathered additional Peacekeepers…"

"And then?"

Traya frowned as she hissed, "They whipped him until he was dead… In front of everyone. He was just a kid. The crowd went haywire. One person started shouting and soon it spread through everyone. According to the source, some people ran away but others charged the Peacekeepers. They rioted and mauled them, killing several."

"Wow," I stated, trying to imagine that happening. Something like that… It wasn't just unheard of. It was _impossible_.

"So you see why we have hope now," Traya stated, "The people are done with this life. We're done with being mistreated and afraid. Now is our chance to grab onto this. If they see us, the Victors, fighting they will to. Especially if it's the ones they once thought were the Capitol's pets."

"And then?"

Traya smiled wide as we approached the path that led away from the beach to the Justice Building, "And then we fight as one. We fight until the Hunger Games are gone forever."

* * *

><p><strong>District One:<strong>

**Rouge's POV:**

"Are you sure you should go?" Polish asked for the hundredth time.

She sat on my bed as I finished straightening my normally wavy hair into a sleek bun. The question burned into me again, but I shrugged it off. I knew this was going to happen at some point.

"It's customary for the mentors to come to the Victor's party in their own district as well as the one in the Capitol. It's a sign of good faith and no hard feelings."

"You keep saying that, but-"

"Thank you for the heads up that Father will be at the celebration," I briskly stated, "But I'm still going. The man is the head of one of the wealthiest families in District One. I can't avoid _looking_ at him for the rest of time."

Polish fidgeted with the comforter, something very unlike her, "Just don't cause a scene. I _really_ don't want to have to deal with father, you, and the press for the business if some commotion happens."

I knew she was referring to the explosive scene the very last time I saw my father. I threw him out of my house and told him if he ever came back I'd kill him.

"A lot of things have changed since then," I replied, "I've become a mentor and a mother. If you think I haven't learned to have some patience you're mistaken. Plus, we both know how prideful father is. He won't come up and try to talk to me. He'll just glare at me the entire evening."

"I don't know if that's true," my sister replied, "You're still his daughter, regardless."

"Regardless of the fact that I singlehandedly destroyed his reputation and his family," I finished.

"No! You… I didn't mean-" she backpedaled.

I interrupted, "I know I didn't, Polish. I'm just saying what we both know he thinks."

With my makeup and hair done, I quickly put on my earrings. They were dangling strands of diamonds that sparkled every time I moved my head. One of the perks to being a victor was having whatever the Capitol had to offer, including their exquisite taste in jewelry. As much as I sometimes hated being defined by beauty, I couldn't help but love it in the objects that surrounded me. You can take the girl out of District One, but the District One vanity and selfishness is ingrained in all of us.

I stood up and unzipped the garment bag. I grabbed the shimmering black dress and sighed. Why did _everything_ have to glitter?

"Have you been eating?"

I looked down at my body and realized how scrawny I looked. My muscles from dancing were still intact, but the rest of my body looked like skin stretched tautly across a skeleton.

"Just because I don't stuff my face doesn't mean I don't eat."

I slipped into the dress and waved my hand. Polish zipped me up and placed her chin on my shoulder. I could feel her stand up on her toes, trying to match my height in my stiletto heels.

"I'm just worried about you sometimes… That's all."

"You have nothing to worry about," I sighed, "I'm doing all I can to take care of everything. That includes you."

"I'm older."

"I'm richer."

She stuck her tongue out, something very unlike Polish, and it made me laugh. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug from behind. If you would have asked me several years ago if I could even care about my sister, I would have said no. Life really does throw some unexpected curve balls.

"Ok, go," I smiled, "You're going to be late."

Polish nodded and let go. She left the room with a rather large smile on her face. Polish, for the first time in our entire life, had some sort of boyfriend. She wouldn't divulge any information, but for the past few months I found her disappearing quite often. It was only recently I got her to admit she was seeing someone.

I grabbed my clutch and left my bedroom as well. Before I even thought about departing, I walked straight to the nursery. I pushed the door open slightly and peered in. Sitting in my rocking chair was my mother. She swayed forward and backward as she held Partridge. I found it soothing to watch both of them in this way. In the recent months, my mother had taken to watching Partridge whenever I was out or busy. Before she moved here, Polish always did a satisfactory job. She fed, bathed, and took care of her in every way. However, just like everything she did, it was in a very 'checklist' sort of way. She didn't waste time holding or interacting with Partridge on a personal level. It was all business.

Mother, however, treated Partridge just like I did. She knew my daughter was this precious treasure who always needed admiring and shining. I never realized how maternal my own mother was until recently. Right when I was about to leave, Mother looked up and saw me.

"You look beautiful," she beamed.

I tiptoed in and replied, "Thanks. Do you have everything you need?"

"Of course. Just go and enjoy yourself."

I nodded and started to retreat. However, I stopped and asked, "Why haven't you once told me to go or not to go to this party? I know you have an opinion."

"You wouldn't listen to me anyways. You're just as stubborn and headstrong as your father."

One thing I appreciated about my mother was her straightforwardness, something she had only recently acquired. Unlike Polish who always worried about offending me and usually took back things she said, my mother said exactly what she was thinking. Maybe it's because she had already lost me for so many years, but she had no fear of driving me away. She seemed to think blunt honesty was the best way to repair our strained relationship.

"I'm surprised you would say that. Comparing me to someone I despise isn't exactly the best way to make a point."

Mother shrugged as she rocked, "Your Father has many faults… So many that he has become horrible man, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his strengths. He's determined, brilliant, and unbreakable. I'm proud to say all of my children inherited these traits in different degrees."

A question rolled of my tongue that had been bothering me for many years, "Is that why you married him? I've always wondered how anyone ended up with such a man since you two never mentioned some sort of arranged marriage."

Mother paused, but continued, "He never wanted me to talk about it because he didn't think it was appropriate. My family was… less than desirable. My dad died when I was very young and my mom sent me to the orphanage soon after."

This confession made perfect sense as to why Father thought it was 'inappropriate'. Anything less than perfect was intolerable for him and, in District One, being an orphan of any kind almost made you an outcast in the higher circles.

"She died a few years after that incident anyways, so I suppose it worked out in the end. Either way I would have ended up there. The point is when I met your father… He was the first strong figure I had ever come in contact with. Many people thought I married him for his money and he married me for my beauty. I assume that _was_ his reasoning, but mine was slightly different. I could have cared less about his money. He promised to care for me and that's all I ever wanted… I just wanted someone to take care of me."

"You certainly used his money enough."

She smiled, taking no offense, as she laughed lightly, "You should know better than I that once you have more money than you could have ever dreamed of that you can't help but be intoxicated by it. Money does that to even the most innocent. It also seemed to help make up for the fact that my husband turned out to be less than ideal in the scheme of things."

I nodded as she continued sadly, "It was hard leaving that… Leaving the man who has taken care of and controlled everything for over half of my life."

"Do you regret it?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Some days, when I wake up alone, I do… But then I walk downstairs and see this little angel. I see my own gem taking care of her and my other treasure heading off to work and that feeling leaves immediately. This life, right here, is the life I have been searching for. Even though I sometimes worry about my decision, seeing all of this eases me."

I watched my mother look endearingly at my daughter. I felt angry with myself for ever hating her. She was always trying to be there for us. She hoped her fake joy would make up for my father's honest cruelty. She was always trying to counterbalance him in hopes we would happy. Her entire life she had been making sacrifices in her own way… All out of love.

Then, the nicest thing I had ever said to my mother left my lips, "Well thankfully you don't have to worry about him taking care of you ever again. You have me for that."

She looked over at me with wet eyes. I felt my eyes begin to sting. There were so many things we wanted to say to each other… And, in time, we would. Once all the wounds had healed, we could freely talk about everything. For now, we both breathed deeply and held it in. We blinked back our tears and went our separate ways to do our duties.

All we needed was a little time.

* * *

><p>The music floated around me. I glided across the floor as a man's arm held my waist tightly. He spun me around and the world followed my lead. Our movements matched the tune and our bodies rejoiced to the sound. In these moments, when I was dancing, everything felt ok in Panem. All I felt was joy as I lost myself in the beautiful notes. With one final chord, I pulled myself to the man and raised one leg high. The song ended and applause filled the room. Some was for the musicians while others were for our performance. I pulled away and laughed. The man, Fredrick, was from the Capitol. His fashion, while different, seemed bubbly and happy. He bowed and I followed suit. We shook hands and thanked each other.<p>

As I stepped away from the dance floor, my eyes unwillingly met my father's for the countless time. We glared at each other before moving on to our next activity. He had always hated my dancing. Although the Capitol had many different styles, he viewed almost all of them as frivolous and unladylike. Another opinion of his that meant nothing to me.

I sat down at a table with Copper and Clinton. They were both drinking and talking casually. Although I adored Copper, Clinton had always been less than ideal company. No matter what the situation, his wandering eye always put me off kilter. I glanced to a nearby table and sighed. However, it was either here with him or over with there with Agatha.

Ever since she practically admitted she was a rebel, I had avoided all contact with her. I didn't hate her… But I had to do it. If something were to happen I couldn't be connected. I wouldn't let anything happen to my family because of the decisions she had made. I refused to let that happen.

I tuned out Clinton's sexist dialogue as I grabbed a fruity drink from a wandering tray. This party had been better than mine last year. It wasn't that they had done anything more or less; it was just that I could actually enjoy myself. I didn't have to travel around the room and make small talk with every person here. I could dance, drink, and talk as much as I wanted to with whoever I wanted to. It made everything far more entertaining.

Charlotte was somewhere in the room, but I had no real interest in meeting her. I didn't dislike the girl, but I had a feeling we wouldn't get along. She was warm and kind, whereas I was icy and distant. Our conversation would be short and awkward. Not to mention she did technically kill Camilla. Although honestly it was a mixture of several tributes in the arena, the kill was credited to her. I doubt she felt guilty, though. I wouldn't have after how Camilla had treated her and her ally. Her speech to our District was heartfelt, but very short. She didn't know Stark and didn't like Camilla. She made both politely clear, while still being apologetic to the families.

Stark's family didn't attend this party, but a large reason had to do with his little brother. He was very publically upset during the speech and, most likely, the Mayor made it clear that they shouldn't attend if they couldn't keep it together. Camilla's family seemed… dysfunctional. Her sister was upset, but her brother almost appeared to be bored. As for her father, he just seemed pissed off. I suppose that could be considered a normal reaction, but something seemed off. It didn't appear to be directed at Charlotte.

I looked around the room, trying to spot them. I found them seated at their reserved table. Camilla's brother was talking lightheartedly with a waitress while her sister sat nervously in her seat. I couldn't figure out why until I spotted the glasses littered around the private table. Her father was slumped slightly with his fists scrunched up. He was knocking back another drink and his face was a bright red. For some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off them even when I could faintly hear Copper asking me a question. My gaze was transfixed. This was Camilla's family?

The girl lightly grabbed her father's arm, attempting to keep him from breaking a glass. He violently jolted and grabbed her wrist. The room was too loud to hear anything but I could tell from the way her mouth cringed she was in pain. I didn't know if it was the small amount of booze or the conversation with my mother or seeing my father. I was suddenly filled with this sudden fury that I had managed to keep under control for over a year. I stood up and began to wade through the crowd to them. As I approached, I could see him practically spitting in her face as his grip tightened.

Was this how Camilla was treated? Is this _man_ the very reason why she was so venomous and violent? I was so tired of fathers, who were supposed to love their children, treat them horribly. Whether they treated them like a killing machine or a doll to be married, it all led down the same path. It led to the children being forever angry; angry at the world, their family, and life itself. I was done just standing by and watching this.

I was finally close enough to hear the girl pleading, "Dad, let me go! You can't do this here! People are watching."

As she pleaded, the father gnashed his teeth and said, "I am your father and I can have another damn drink if I want! It's not like I'm going to be able to do this anymore! Your fucking sister failed to bring back our money so now we get to scrounge around, just like always. God, you're such a disappointment. What the hell are you useful for, you no-good rat. First you kill my wife and then-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. By then, my diamond nails raked deeply into the side of his face. He immediately let go of his daughter and yelled in agony. He kicked the chair out from under him as he tried to grab my wrist. For good measure, I dug them in ever deeper as he fell to the floor. I felt someone grab me roughly from behind, most likely the son, but I shrugged him off easily. I finally let go as he screamed out curses. The music had stopped and everyone was looking over at us. For once, I didn't care if the attention was on me or not. I didn't care if I was making a scene. This had to be stopped now.

"Do not _ever_ lay another finger on this girl again. Do you understand me?"

"You bitch!" he spat as blood seeped through his closed fingers.

I wiped the blood off my fingers coolly on his suit as I repeated, "Do you understand?"

His eyes widened as I gripped his tie tightly. He nodded, but his eyes held nothing but pure hatred.

"If you do, I will know. Then as _soon_ as I hear about it, I will make sure that day is your last one."

I could hear several people cough uncomfortably. Someone began to shuffle drinks and the music quietly began again. As if time had stopped and now resumed, everyone went back to their conversations. I glanced at the girl and she looked terrified. I couldn't tell if it was because of me or what she thought her father might do to her later. If it was the latter, she didn't need to be afraid. I didn't make threats. I stated facts.

"You wouldn't get away with it," he muttered spitefully as he stood up and began to collect his things.

"I'm Rouge Lockett," I specified, "You obviously forgot who I am."

In that moment, I was unstoppable. I was the old, blazing Rouge Lockett.

* * *

><p>I walked out onto one of the secluded balconies. I finally let myself breathe as the cool, night air surrounded me. I felt powerful, yet breakable at the same time. What if the President heard and didn't like it? What if she heard and did something? What if…<p>

I shook my head. She wouldn't care about some abusive, poor District One resident. When it came to the lowlifes, I'm assuming she didn't waste the time or effort. I was in the clear and, more importantly, I did what I thought was right. Could I have handled it better? Obviously. Violence at the new Victor's celebration wasn't something that should slide easily. However, I couldn't help but feel justified. He wouldn't touch her again. That man was filled with fear… And Mother was right. Just like my father, I was unbreakable. When I said I'd do something of that nature, I meant it… And everyone was able to tell.

I leaned against the balcony, finally catching my breath. After several minutes, something clinked lightly and I jumped. I looked to my left to see a man. I had thought I was alone out here, but somehow I had missed him. I didn't know how, either, seeing as he was massive. I was a tall girl and he was at least a head taller than me, maybe even more. What caught my eye most wasn't his height or quietness, but his face. His dark, curly hair was cut unevenly and the entire right side of his face was covered in scars. They were long, clean, vertical cuts. His marred face was something nonexistent in District One. Everyone appeared so perfect and fragile, whereas this man was disfigured and huge.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone was out here," I commented.

The man didn't respond to my question, instead stating, "I saw what you did to that guy in there."

"Everyone did," I replied, taken aback by his forwardness.

"Why did you do that?"

"He was hurting his child for no good reason."

He nodded, taking my reasoning into consideration. I moved closer, expecting him to possibly agree or change the subject. Instead, he continued, "How do you know he wasn't doing it out of love?"

I scoffed as I replied, "You don't hurt the people you love."

"If you truly love others, you're willing to hurt yourself for their benefit. What hurts more than harming your own flesh and blood?"

His reasoning was not only extremely warped, but flawed as I argued, "Of course you're willing to sacrifice things for those you love, but you can't sacrifice someone else's happiness or health! It's not yours to take. That isn't love. That's control."

He nodded again as he replied, "You said he didn't have a reason, so I was giving you one to think about. Not saying that you should believe it or not."

For the third time, I was taken aback. He was just supplying a reason that he didn't even believe? How… odd. Still, I found that I was worked up over everything. I felt like I had no control over my thoughts or body.

I couldn't stop the question, "Is the reason you're _so_ concerned about his face is because now he'll look like you?"

I expected him to become extremely offended. He would possibly send me a dirty look before walking away. However, he didn't seem offended even in the slightest bit as he replied, "I'm not concerned for him. I was just curious as to why you did what you did. I like to know how people tick."

His honesty and forwardness, although shocking, was refreshing. I hadn't known anyone in District One like this except my mother, whom only had starting showing this side very recently. I was suddenly very curious about this man with the scars. A curiosity I haven't had for another person since I met Link.

"Zavij!" someone called out.

We both turned around to see a Peacekeeper. She was tall and I vaguely recognized her. Her hair was as dark as midnight, but her eyes were a piercing ice blue (much like mine). She marched forward and then I placed her. She was the new Head Peacekeeper. I realized, stupidly. of course she would be here… and she would have seen exactly what I did.

"Yes, Mother?"

I looked to my right, shocked for two reasons. One, that this large man was still young enough to heed to his mother's call and, two, that the left side of his face was not marred in any way. It was pale and smooth, the exact opposite to his other half.

"The party is ending and we need to make sure Charlotte Fern makes it to the train safely. I'm entrusting this task to one of my subordinates, but I would like it if you tagged along. Security is as important as ever."

"Yes, Mother."

She turned to me and bowed slightly, "Good evening, Miss Lockett. I hope my son didn't cause you any trouble."

"Of course not. He was keeping me company and, most likely, preventing me from getting into any more," I replied casually, searching for an answer.

Our eyes met and I knew I was in the clear. The days of possibly getting in trouble were far behind me in District One. As she was quickly picking up, in this district you picked your friends and enemies carefully. One of the newer victors was not to be trifled with.

She nodded to both of us. As he began to leave, she nudged him lightly. He turned around and said, "It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Lockett."

As they left I replied, "Like wise. I'll be seeing you around."

And the funny thing was I actually meant it.

* * *

><p><strong>District Ten:<strong>

**Charlotte's POV:**

This past week and a half had been the most emotionally draining time of my life. The Hunger Games were physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. It required you to give everything you had just so you could survive another day. The Victory Tour, however, didn't let you give anything. All it did was take. It sapped every emotion I had spent months avoiding out of me and forced me to confront them. Then, while dealing with these weak moments, I had to act like everything in life was perfect. It was back to smiling, nodding, and obeying except I wasn't numb anymore.

I felt everything.

"Tomorrow you will be rushed out of here and into preparation. You have to look your best for your Victory Interview. Afterwards, you'll change and retire to the President's Mansion for the Victory Dinner-"

Muffy trailed on and on excitedly. As the tour continued, Muffy's forced bubbliness seemed to turn real. At first, I thought it was because we were nearing her home, but that didn't seem to affect her. It was as if she was anticipating something.

"Thank you, Muffy," I said earnestly as I plopped down onto the bed, "I wouldn't have been able to get through this without you."

Muffy stopped mid-gasp and smiled. She stepped forward, as if to join me, but stopped herself, "I always dreamed that a Victor would say that to me… I always wanted to know that I did something to help change one of your lives, even if it was just in the slightest."

I ignored the exclusionary comment and beamed, "Well you did just that."

She nodded and began to leave the room. Right at the door, she paused and glanced back. Before shutting the door, she stated, "Things are changing, Charlotte. Hopefully for the good."

The door clicked behind her and my entire composure changed. My body relaxed and my ribcage expanded. I finally breathed deeply instead of inhaling and exhaling the small gusts of air. Even my bones seemed to shift. All the tension left them and I realized how stiff I was. I slowly stood up from my old bed and walked to the nearby window.

Seeing all the families left behind was so difficult. Even when I didn't know the tributes, it broke my heart to know that this mother could have been mine. Some of the families were upset and it took all of my power to not flat out apologize. For the most part, I had nothing to apologize for… Except for the glaring fact that I was alive and their loved one wasn't.

I thought the hardest district would be Nine. I thought for sure I would see Hawk's family and they would, rightfully so, be filled with hatred. When I walked out of the Justice Building, I looked at them first almost eager to get what I deserved. When I saw them, however, they didn't look at me with hate. They seemed almost understanding, which was far worse than I could have imagined. I could see it in their eyes that they knew life was filled with hardships. Losing their brother and son was theirs and being the one who killed him was mine. Instead of easing my guilt and punishing me, they let me deal with it by myself.

After crying all night, I thought the worst had passed. I hadn't single handedly killed anyone else. The rest would be a breeze compared to District Nine… Sadly, I was horribly wrong again. When I reached District Six, I somehow still managed to fool myself. I thought of all the great times Adam and I had, per usual. I focused on the positive things and hoped to possibly talk to his family… Maybe say something to cheer them up.

When I got on that stage, I was blindsided again. Instead of seeing a downtrodden, saddened family I just saw a group of people who happened to share the same blood. His father seemed annoyed while both his mother and eldest brother seemed bored. I remembered talking very little about his family, but I thought it was because we had an unspoken alliance. I missed mine terribly and I assumed he felt the same… Standing on that stage, I couldn't have been more wrong. The only two who seemed to show any interest were his two other siblings. His other brother smiled at me sadly, while his sister looked at me expectantly. It was a mixture of hope and distance, if the two can even be combined. It was as if she was expressing that if anyone else survived she was glad it was me… I had the family and friends to go home to… Adam only had this broken, screwed up household.

Suddenly, the happy memories of our times together disappeared. I was frozen, completely taken over by guilt. Instead of talking about how wonderful he was, all I wanted to do was cry. I couldn't get the words out. Just like Adam's family, he and my memories of him weren't all joyous and perfect. It was wrong of me to turn Adam into this feel-good drug that I took a hit from every time I was feeling down. I couldn't just take the good things and leave out the painful and bad. I couldn't dishonor his memory by not acknowledging his death.

My speech that both Miranda and Muffy helped write was never spoken. Instead, I uttered sad excuses and found myself barely able to mention him. After that moment, the rest of the day became one of the darkest in my life… And I had to act completely fine.

As I stared out at the crystal city, my tears slapped against the tiled floor. How was I supposed to do this? If I acknowledged the dead tributes, I felt like I was being crushed. If I ignored their deaths, I was a terrible person. How was I going to deal with this all alone?

I wiped the tears away, trying to push back my dark thoughts. There was only a couple more days until I was back home. I didn't have to deal with this alone. I was blessed to have a support system. I had numerous people I could talk to: my family, my friends, and my fellow victors. I didn't have to bear the weight of this by myself. I knew there were others who were going to stand beside, holding up the sky when I couldn't.

I wasn't going to be crushed.

* * *

><p>"You did magnificent," my stylist smiled as he helped me out of my ruffled dress.<p>

My Victory Interview went just as I thought it would (something that seemed to be uncommon as of late). Just like when I had won, Europa and I made small talk and banter. She asked me lighthearted questions that reflected only the happy things in life. We spoke about my family as well as my flower garden. We talked about only the most pristine, perfect, prettiest things. I wondered if that was supposed to placate everyone.

Was my forced optimism supposed to magically stop the acts of rebellion that were happening in the three districts I couldn't visit? Was this pretty package meant to soothe the Capitol and help chase away their fears?

"Thank you," I replied promptly as he washed away my makeup.

He started with a fresh palette and began to create art. Since the tour, I had to admit that the stylists could be very talented. Mine took boring, average Charlotte and turned her into something else every day. Some days I was this subtle petunia while others he turned me into a vibrant rose. I was always impressed and found that it did help me with keeping appearances. If I looked confident and joyous, it was much easier to act like it.

Soon, we moved on to the dress. It was a sweeping, dramatic yellow dress. It flowed to the floor and blossomed around my feet. The fabric was so heavy and expandable that he pulled it tightly across my waist and tied a bow in the back. My hair was beat into submission and swirled down one side of my head. He inserted a gem headband into my hair to help keep control.

"Topaz," he smiled, "It's said to bring beauty to women."

_You need it_

I pushed away my thought and just smiled. After tonight, I got to head home. I could start healing again, as well as working through my feelings for the dead tributes healthily. None of this would matter and I could get back to focusing on what was important.

Just one more night of pretending to be perfect.

* * *

><p>The party was intimidating compared to what I attended in the different districts. Capitolians filled the mansion as well as the streets. It seemed as if the entire city was either attending the party or very close by. Those not inside filled a plaza outside the mansion. They passed around drinks, food, and different lights as they died just to get a glimpse of the glamour. Perhaps they were hoping to one day be rich or important enough to be invited to one of these parties.<p>

Entering the mansion was overwhelming. Tables and tables of succulent food filled the room. Many people glided by them, snatching morsels that many would kill for. A full orchestra was playing beautiful music and a dance floor was set up in the middle of the room. It seemed to me that mostly Capitolians danced, but I spotted a few victors. One was District One's Rouge Lockett who seemed to float across the ground. After what happened only two days ago, I couldn't help but be slightly frightened of her. I knew she had killed so many people, but I never thought victors (or even people for that matter) publically attacked others. In District Ten, those kinds of things didn't happen. As I traveled across Panem, I quickly realized how much violence and crime truly filled it.

As the party progressed, everyone complimented me. They loved my dress, my hair, my shoes, and, most of all, _me_. I thanked them and returned the compliments, but never took them to heart. I knew their adoration was fleeting. It didn't mean anything because it wasn't real.

I danced clumsily with different men. Most of them laughed with me as we practically flailed about. Wolf saved me from several dances, thankfully, and always dragged me to the food. I ate so much I thought I might explode, but I couldn't help myself. No other time like this in the Capitol had I been treated with this much luxury and quality. I never thought their food, things, or technology could get any better but they proved me wrong again. This was the highest of the high quality; only the best for the party of the year.

The main shadow hanging over everything was the President herself. For a majority of it, she sat up high in her own little overhang. She observed all of us much like someone would a pack of mice. It was unnerving, especially since it felt like every time I glanced at her she felt it. Our eyes would always connect and I would shift my gaze somewhere else. This was one of those times, except we didn't break contact. Her eyes pierced me, sending chills throughout my entire body.

"Charlotte!" someone squealed.

I spun around to see Lorie charging towards me. With drink in hand, she wrapped both arms around my neck. Surprised, I hugged her lightly back. After our conversation in District Nine, I thought it was established we weren't really friends… At least on her end. Maybe being a bitch was just how she communicated with everyone, including people she liked.

Her pure white wig was sloped a little too far to the left and I subtly adjusted it.

"Isn't this the _shit_? Every year I make it a point to come to this party simply because of how amazing the atmosphere is. When you add in the alcohol and food, I'm in one hundred percent."

I nodded as I peered back up. Suddenly, President Raven was gone. She had disappeared right into thin air. I turned back to Lorie as she babbled on about something else. Before I could get in a word, someone tapped my shoulder.

I felt Wolf's body behind me as he pointed to our left. An intimidating Peacekeeper had grabbed a microphone and ordered, "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending the Victory Dinner. As you know, this party usually lasts late until the morning. This will still be the case; however, the President has a very important announcement to make. If you would please allow us to escort you out, we will be able to return to this party as soon as possible."

As soon as he stopped talking, the chatter resumed with a vengeance. Their prattle sounded like the clicks of excited insects. They were thrilled at the prospect of there being some sort of fresh exciting news. I realized quickly this was how these citizens lived their lives. While they partied and gossiped, they also waited for the next big proclamation. Their lives revolved around whatever the President ordered or declared next. It was quite sad, in all actuality.

As the three of us began to follow the crowd, a rather small Peacekeeper intercepted us. He directed us to the left and we followed. We ascended the grand staircase and I noticed all the other victors were being corralled to the same place. We marched forward in line much like an army as we trekked down the hallway. We traversed the massive maze until we finally reached a balcony. I stepped onto it and tried to step to the side.

However, one of the Peacekeepers grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me to the front. I gripped the railing to keep from tripping and tried not to glare at the man. As he backed away, they continued to arrange us like dolls. Rouge Lockett was placed to my right while Ethan Rowe was on my left. I looked behind me to see Streak and Bethy both practically hidden by our bodies.

I stared out at the sea of people. Each one was like a colorful candy in a dish. They all looked unique, but you knew they were the same underneath the wrapper. All of them were contemplating what the news would be… But, then again, so were we. I couldn't remember the President ever making some sort of announcement during the Victory Tour. That time was solely devoted to the new Victor.

Before I could continue to think, a hush fell over the crowd. You could still hear their soft murmurs as President Raven stepped out on a different balcony. It was higher than ours and in the center of the mansion. She stood strong and gazed out over her people. Her lips were taut and no amusement crossed over her face.

"Hello Panem," she spoke into the microphone. Several cameras floated through the air, catching every word. One landed right in front of me and I jumped slightly. All of Panem was seeing my face right now.

"As many of you know, this year has been one to remember. The 226th Hunger Game is one that will stand firm for centuries to come. It was filled with drama, action, and suspense."

The crowd whispered their agreement as they gossiped among themselves.

"However, I think we all need to take a moment and remember what the Hunger Games are really about. This annual event was created to not only punish those who threated our country but to preserve a memory. The memory that life comes with a price."

Her words were spoken harshly and firmly. My heart beat faster as I knew exactly who she was speaking to.

"This lesson seems to have been forgotten by _everyone_. The lack of obedience and order this year has been astounding. Which is why, for this year only, there will be a new twist to the next Hunger Games."

The crowd became invigorated by her words. My stomach knotted with disgust. They were excited for whatever new rule was to be added to their death games. They were never satisfied with the fact that so many children died every year for their entertainment. They wanted more and more novelty ideas.

The President opened an envelope and pulled out a card, "For the 227th Hunger Games, to remind the citizens of Panem that unlawful actions come with consequences, six additional tributes will be reaped."

Clapping and cheers broke out. I felt like I couldn't breathe. My entire body tensed as I struggled to stand still. Six additional tributes were to be added to the Hunger Games, something that had never happened. My mind automatically did the math. Three districts had been the first to try to revolt in different degrees. It had to be them… Then my mind went to a darker place. The victors had been arranged up here for all of Panem to see. What if… What if _we_ were the ones destined to be the additional tributes. What if… What if… I couldn't go back there!

I wanted to throw myself off the balcony at the very thought of returning to that death trap. I began to fall. I would have collapsed if someone hadn't placed their entire arm behind my waist. I looked to my left to see Ethan holding me up. I gathered my wits and forced myself to stand strong. My mind was jumping to conclusions.

"The pool for these tributes," The President barked loudly over the crowd. She waited until the Capitolians had quieted enough for her to speak normally. She glared at the crowd before staring directly into a floating camera.

"The pool for these tributes will be children from the age of twelve through eighteen. These six children will be residents of the Capitol."

Her words bounced through the hollow air. Everyone took one collective gasp as they sank in. The _Capitol_ was going to be a part of the Hunger Games? The shock was evident as no one moved or spoke. Even my mind was completely frozen.

"You _never_ bite the hand that feeds you," President Raven hissed as she walked off the balcony. Not a single sound was emitted through the crowd.

For the first time in history, the Capitol was completely silent.

* * *

><p><strong>And yes, my darlings, that is the end of the 226<strong>**th**** Hunger Games. Lavender's plan was executed. She wanted to Capitol to suffer and now they will. **

**This has been a long journey and I sadly change this story to complete. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported me. I am truly grateful for all the time you put into this story. The 227****th**** Hunger Games are posted and I will be accepting tributes. As for how the Capitol tributes will be organized, that will all be explained in the first chapter of my last SYOT. I hope to see many of you there and I hope you join me for our last journey through my universe. **

**Thank you all,**

**Europa**


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